The War Against The Islamic State In Syria And Iraq Grinds On

An Iraqi special forces soldier looks down the entrance of a tunnel used by ISIS fighters inside a restaurant in Bazwaya, east of Mosul. Reuters

Jack Moore, The National: ISIS guerrilla war slows coalition battle in Iraq and Syria

Militants are holing up in underground tunnels and cave complexes to plot attacks.

The campaign to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria has slowed because the militants are using underground hideouts and cave complexes as staging points for attacks, the US-led coalition battling the group admitted on Sunday.

The evolving use of such guerrilla tactics represents a new challenge, officials said, and has prompted increased activity by the coalition and its ground partners to eradicate ISIS from the two countries.

Although territory held by the insurgents has severely diminished following the liberation of the two biggest Syrian and Iraqi cities once under its control, Raqqa and Mosul, the ability of the militants to hold out in unconventional ways appears part of a new and lethal underground insurgency.

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WNU Editor: This is a conflict that is going to last a long time.