http://www.arabnews.com/node/998601/middle-east
BEIRUT, Lebanon: Syrian rebels said they captured the village of Dabiq from Daesh on Sunday, forcing the jihadist group from a stronghold where it had promised to fight a final, apocalyptic battle with the West.
The rebels, backed by Turkish tanks and warplanes, also took neighboring Soran, said Ahmed Osman, head of the Sultan Murad group, one of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions involved in the clashes on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
“The Daesh myth of their great battle in Dabiq is finished,” he told Reuters, using a pejorative name for Daesh.
An Islamic prophesy names Dabiq as the site of a battle between Muslims and infidels that will presage doomsday, a message used extensively in Daesh’s propaganda. The group also named a publication after the northwest village.
However, the jihadist group has appeared to back away from Dabiq’s symbolism more recently after advances by Turkey-backed rebels put the village at risk of capture, saying this battle was not the one described in the prophesy.
“It seems like Daesh has mostly left the area,” said a Turkish military source, but warning that the FSA groups still needed to clear land mines from the village.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war, had said Daesh brought 1,200 fighters to defend Dabiq.
Turkey launched the Euphrates Shield operation, bringing rebels backed by its own armor and air force into action against Daesh, in August, aiming to clear the group from its border and stop Kurdish fighters gaining ground in that area.
Daesh is also facing an expected offensive soon against its most important Iraqi possession, the city of Mosul, while the US-backed, Kurd-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces also threaten to advance on its Syrian capital of Raqqa.
FSA fires an anti aircraft against IS in the northern Syria village of Yahmoul in the Marj Dabiq area
Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters on Oct. 16 took control of the northern Syrian towns of Dabiq and Soran, located between Azaz and al-Rai, from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), according to FSA commanders.
Ankara-backed FSA fighters were trying to neutralize the bomb set ups that were set up by ISIL militants in the area, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
Security forces reportedly said the “hardest part” of Operation Euphrates Shield, the campaign by Turkey and allied Syrian rebels to target ISIL, was completed and campaigns will continue.
According to Islamic tradition, Dabiq will be the site of a final battle between Muslims and infidels heralding Doomsday. The ISIL jihadists have encouraged their supporters to regard this battle as imminent and have even named one of their publications “Dabiq.”
October/16/2016
