RUSSIA/SYRIA/TERRORISM: “Islamic State militants stranded in the Syrian desert for two weeks have reached their destination in eastern Syria, opposition activists said, after the U.S.-led coalition heeded Russia’s request to cease airstrikes on the convoy’s route.
The convoy of buses traveled across Syria as part of a controversial deal brokered in August by the Lebanese militia group Hezbollah that allowed 600 people—Islamic State fighters and their families—to withdraw from the Lebanese border in southwestern Syria and head toward its border with Iraq.
The convoy was able to reach Deir Ezzour province, an Islamic State-held area in eastern Syria, after the coalition ended its aerial surveillance and airstrikes on the group, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists across the country.
Col. Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria, said Thursday [9-14-17] morning he couldn’t confirm that the buses reached their final destination and said that the coalition hadn’t had persistent surveillance of them for days…
The Russian officials said their planes were involved in operations against Islamic State in Deir Ezzour, Pentagon officials said in a statement. At the same time, fighters described as pro-Syrian regime forces advanced past Islamic State convoy. Pentagon officials said they would continue to take steps to prevent Islamic State fighters from moving toward Iraq, but haven’t specified how they intend to stop them.”
-Raja Abdulrahim and Ben Kesling, “ISIS Convoy Reaches Militant-Held Syria After Coalition Stops Strikes, Activists Say,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 14, 2017 10:19am