Trump Effect: Islamic State Jihadists Emerge from Tunnels to Surrender as ‘Caliphate’ Falls

Unlike President Obama, who aided and abetted (and actually did a great deal to enable the creation of) the Islamic State, President Trump has vanquished the enemy. When Obama left office, it looked as if the Islamic State would be with us for years, if not decades to come. And of course now the enemedia is pressuring Western nations to re-admit returning Islamic State jihadis, which is yet another instance of media treason. Clearly it’s easier to dispatch the Islamic menace in Iraq and Syria than it is in the beltway, the media and academia. But they must vanquished here, too.

“Islamic State Jihadists Emerge from Tunnels to Surrender as ‘Caliphate’ Falls,” AFP, March 24, 2019:

Baghouz (Syria) (AFP) Islamic State group jihadists emerged from tunnels to surrender to US-backed forces in eastern Syria on Sunday, a Kurdish spokesman said, a day after their “caliphate” was declared defeated.

An AFP reporter saw dozens of people — mostly men — file out of the battered jihadist encampment in the remote village of Baghouz to board pickup trucks.

“They are IS fighters who came out of tunnels and surrendered today,” said Jiaker Amed, a spokesman for the Kurdish units spearheading the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

Plodding out of their defeated bastion on the banks of the Euphrates near the Iraqi border, some sported thick beards.

Some wore long woollen kaftan tunics over their dark-coloured robes, others a chequered scarf wrapped around their heads.

“Some others could still be hiding inside,” added Amed.

A months-long offensive by the SDF was declared victorious Saturday, after multiple pauses to allow out civilians and surrendering fighters from the crumbling IS pocket.

More than 66,000 people, mostly civilians, have quit the last IS redoubt since January 9, according to the SDF….