BAGHOUZ, Syria — U.S.-backed Syrian forces said Wednesday that Islamic State militants are putting up a desperate fight against their advances and staged a counterattack overnight from the tiny speck of land the extremists still hold in eastern Syria. The counterattack began from the west of a riverside pocket in the Syrian village of Baghouz where the Islamic State group has been making its last stand, said a commander with the U.S-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. A third commander, Dilbrin Nargiz, said the IS counterattack began just before dawn. The weeks-old push on Baghouz has also taken a toll on the Kurdish forces, some of whom have been battling IS for the past six years. A spokesman for the U.S.-backed forces, Adnan Afrin, said IS militants were putting up a “fierce resistance,” firing mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades in clashes that began Tuesday.

Source: National Post March 13, 2019 09:38 UTC