Status of ISIS convoy unclear with US and Assad regime making different claims
LATEST
The Assad regime and US gave conflicting accounts on Thursday of the status of an Islamic State convoy, arranged by Hezbollah and the regime, moving from the Syria-Lebanon border to eastern Syria.
US warplanes cratered roads on Wednesday, trying to block a convoy of more than 600 ISIS fighters and family members travelling to al-Bukamal near the Iraqi frontier. They struck individual ISIS vehicles trying to meet the buses and ambulances.
On Monday, the convoy set off from southwestern Syria after a week-long offensive by Hezbollah and Assad regime forces, accompanied by a Lebanese army advance on the other side of the border, removed the Islamic State from its last positions.
A pro-Assad commander said on Thursday that the convoy was taking a new route to move into Deir ez-Zor Province, the last remaining major area of ISIS presence in Syria. He said they were moving north towards the town of Sukhna in eastern Homs Province, captured by a pro-Assad offensive earlier this month.
But Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the US commander of the coalition against the ISIS, said from Baghdad:
When I walked into this conference about an hour ago, the buses were on the move. They had turned and had driven back into regime-held areas.
We haven’t struck the convoy. But we have struck every ISIS fighter and/or vehicle that has tried to approach that convoy. And we’ll continue to do that.
Assad Appears at Eid al-Adha Prayers
Bashar al-Assad appeared at the prayers for Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, on Friday in Qara city in the Qalamoun region of Damascus Province.
The ceremony was attended by MPs, officials, and the Grand Mufti.
Assad’s trip to Qara, halfway between Damascus and Homs, was an apparent attempt to show the regime’s advancing control outside the capital. The presiding cleric, Sheikh Ma’moun al-Qadiri, proclaimed, “We say the Eid came back this year accompanied with a great victory for our army in Qalamoun, and this victory is crowned with your Excellency’s presence among your people in the Qara of Qalamoun.”
