Syrian rebels approach symbolic Daesh village

ISTANBUL/BEIRUT — Syrian rebels backed by Turkey and a US-led coalition are closing in on the Daesh-held village of Dabiq, the site of an apocalyptic prophesy central to the militant group’s ideology.

Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel groups have been pushing southwards into Daesh’s territory in an operation backed by Turkey since August 24, and have taken villages near Dabiq in recent days. A rebel leader said the plan was to reach Dabiq within 48 hours, but cautioned Daesh had heavily mined the surrounding area, a sign of its importance to the group.

Although Dabiq, a village in relatively flat countryside northeast of Aleppo, holds little strategic value, it is seen by Daesh as the place where a final battle will take place between Muslims and “infidels”, heralding “Doomsday”.

The group has named its online English-language magazine Dabiq and in April and May sent about 800 fighters there to defend it against advances by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday.

“If matters proceed as planned, within 48 hours we will be in Dabiq,” Ahmed Osman, commander of the Sultan Murad FSA group, said in a voice recording sent to Reuters.

However, Daesh has heavily mined the area, making progress around Turkman Bareh slower than in other areas, said Osman, adding that 15 deaths among insurgent ranks in the past 24 hours were caused by mines and mortar fire.

The US-led coalition against Daesh is actively supporting the rebels as they advance “to within a few kilometres of [its] weakening stronghold” of Dabiq, Brett McGurk, Washington’s special envoy for the coalition, said in a Tweet.

Daesh has exploited the five-year-old Syrian civil war to seize swathes of territory.

Washington believes taking Dabiq could strike at Daesh morale as it prepares to fend off expected offensives against Iraq’s Mosul and Syria’s Raqqa, the largest cities held by the extremists, officials from a coalition country said.

Turkish warplanes hit Daesh targets in the areas of Dabiq, Akhtarin and Turkman Bareh, destroying nine buildings including a command post, gun positions and an ammunition depot, a statement by Turkey’s military said on Monday.

The latest fighting marks an escalation since Turkish troops crossed the border into Syria on August 24 to back opposition fighters battling Daesh in an operation Ankara says is aimed at removing the border threat the extremists pose.

Nearly a dozen air strikes by the US-backed coalition killed 13 militants, while the Turkish army said it also fired on Daesh from inside Turkey after the militants used rockets to target its border town of Kilis.