The offensive to liberate the last ISIS enclave of Baghouz in eastern Syria began again on Sunday evening, with an exchange of fire between militants and US-backed Syrian forces.
"The military operations have started. Our forces are now clashing with the terrorists and the attack has started," said Mustafa Bali, spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces.
The SDF, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters waging war against ISIS, has besieged the 700-metre square pocket and was, until today, in negotiations with the last fighters inside after thousands of civilians and militants left the camp in the last week.
That humanitarian pause over the past week slowed military action against the group’s remaining fighters.
Kurdish official Aras Orkesh said on Saturday that the final push would take about three days.
“It’s the end of the ceasefire with Daesh,” Mr Orkesh said.
ISIS fighters have slowed the offensive by laying mines and booby-traps, and attacking advancing forces with car bombs and sniper fire.
Landmine defusers are sweeping the area at night to allow SDF forces to push forward.
ISIS is also using women and children as human shields.
“What’s holding us up is the civilians. We can see them, women and children inside,” Mr Orkesh told AP.
Fighters have been emerging from tunnels inside Baghouz, making estimates of those remaining difficult.
Militants willing to fight to the death have been seen at the edge of the edge of the patch of farmland, with faces covered, as they supervise the move to safety of wounded fighters, and women and children.
The SDF and ISIS lines are now only about 200 metres apart in Baghouz, with a tense stand-off continuing.
The fall of Baghouz would be the end of ISIS’s territorial hold in Iraq and Syria.
Military officials and experts said it would not represent the end of the group, which has already reverted to guerrilla tactics.
Meanwhile, ISIS claimed an attack in northern Syria, where a suicide car bomb aimed at US forces wounded at least two allied fighters on Saturday.
The convoy hit included a US armoured vehicle from the international anti-ISIS coalition and Kurdish fighters in the city of Manbij, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said from Britain.
It said the two wounded fighters were from the SDF.
"No US soldiers were injured or killed today," coalition spokesman Sean Ryan said.
The attack is the third in the past two months on the coalition in northern Syria.
On January 16, four Americans were among 19 people killed in a suicide attack claimed by ISIS in Manbij.
The city is a former ISIS stronghold that is now held by a military council affiliated to the SDF.
It is a major point of contention between Syria's Kurdish minority, which claims autonomy in parts of northern and north-eastern Syria, and neighbouring Turkey.
The militant attacks followed US President Donald Trump's announcement in December that he would withdraw American troops from Syria, as he declared ISIS had been defeated.
The White House later said about 200 American "peacekeeping" soldiers would remain in northern Syria.
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
SCORES
Yorkshire Vikings 144-1 in 12.5 overs
(Tom Kohler 72 not out, Harry Broook 42 not out)
bt Hobart Hurricanes 140-7 in 20 overs
(Caleb Jewell 38, Sean Willis 35, Karl Carver 2-29, Josh Shaw 2-39)
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
The biog
Prefers vegetables and fish to meat and would choose salad over pizza
Walks daily as part of regular exercise routine
France is her favourite country to visit
Has written books and manuals on women’s education, first aid and health for the family
Family: Husband, three sons and a daughter
Fathiya Nadhari's instructions to her children was to give back to the country
The children worked as young volunteers in social, education and health campaigns
Her motto is to never stop working for the country
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
Film: In Syria
Dir: Philippe Van Leeuw
Starring: Hiam Abbass, Diamand Bo Abboud, Mohsen Abbas and Juliette Navis
Verdict: Four stars
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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US households add $601bn of debt in 2019
American households borrowed another $601 billion (Dh2.2bn) in 2019, the largest yearly gain since 2007, just before the global financial crisis, according to February data from the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Fuelled by rising mortgage debt as homebuyers continued to take advantage of low interest rates, the increase last year brought total household debt to a record high, surpassing the previous peak reached in 2008 just before the market crash, according to the report.
Following the 22nd straight quarter of growth, American household debt swelled to $14.15 trillion by the end of 2019, the New York Fed said in its quarterly report.
In the final three months of the year, new home loans jumped to their highest volume since the fourth quarter of 2005, while credit cards and auto loans also added to the increase.
The bad debt load is taking its toll on some households, and the New York Fed warned that more and more credit card borrowers — particularly young people — were falling behind on their payments.
"Younger borrowers, who are disproportionately likely to have credit cards and student loans as their primary form of debt, struggle more than others with on-time repayment," New York Fed researchers said.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
Teri%20Baaton%20Mein%20Aisa%20Uljha%20Jiya
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirectors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Amit%20Joshi%20and%20Aradhana%20Sah%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECast%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Shahid%20Kapoor%2C%20Kriti%20Sanon%2C%20Dharmendra%2C%20Dimple%20Kapadia%2C%20Rakesh%20Bedi%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
500 People from Gaza enter France
115 Special programme for artists
25 Evacuation of injured and sick
