Islamic State Claims It's Still Present in Al-Bukhamal, Fighting Syrian Army
Late on Friday, November 10, Islamic State-affiliated Amaq News posted a video claiming to show combat between the militant group’s fighters and pro-Assad regime forces in al-Bukhamal, contradicting official Syrian claims of controlling the city.The video is captioned in Arabic: “The third day in a row government forces fail to enter the town of #Albukhamal.”The Syrian government said it took al-Bukhamal on Thursday of last week, as seen in this Russian state news report here, quoting a Syrian Army commander: “On Thursday, the Syrian Army liberated the city of Abu Kamal, near the border with Iraq, destroying the last IS stronghold in Syria.”This propaganda video has been edited. Scenes include an Islamic State fighter firing from a technical with an identifiable al-Bukhamal landmark in the background and anti-tank missile strikes on a tank, a bulldozer, and armored car. The video also shows a vacated city and fighters in action. Credit: Amaq News