Date: Feb 13, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Slow progress in Daesh Syria pocket: US coalition Car bomb explodes near Syrian town on border with Turkey Reuters BEIRUT: Kurdish-led fighters battling to capture Daesh's (ISIS) last major stronghold in Syria are making "slow and methodical" progress, the U.S.-led coalition that backs them said Tuesday. "The enemy is fully entrenched and ISIS fighters continue to conduct counter attacks," said coalition spokesman Colonel Sean Ryan in an email, adding it was "too early for a timetable" on when the operation might end. Baghouz, a village on the east bank of the Euphrates at Syria's border with Iraq, is Daesh's last territorial foothold in the U.S.-led coalition's area of operations. However, it still holds land in central Syria in a remote desert area otherwise controlled by the government. In places it lost in Syria and Iraq it was able to go to ground and has launched deadly guerrilla attacks. Even after Baghouz is captured, there will have to be clearing operations to rid the village of explosive booby traps left by Daesh to kill civilians, Ryan said. The fight is being waged by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia, which has seized about a quarter of the country, mostly through the U.S.-backed campaign against Daesh. On Monday, columns of white smoke from coalition air strikes were visible and trucks crammed with fleeing civilians drove along a dusty track out of the enclave, a Reuters witness said. Coalition air power, crucial to the SDF's advances, has levelled entire districts of towns and cities in the fight against Daesh, though it says it takes care to avoid hitting civilians. On Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 70 civilians had been killed and wounded by air strikes that it said hit a camp for civilians in Baghouz, and that 16 civilians were killed in strikes overnight. Ryan said the coalition was aware of the report and was looking into it. "The coalition continues to strike at ISIS targets whenever available," he said. SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said Monday that many civilians remained in Baghouz, compelling the militia to go cautiously. It believes 400-600 militants may still be dug in there. Car bomb explodes near Syrian town on border with Turkey Reuters ISTANBUL: A car bomb exploded at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the Syrian town of Al-Rai near the Turkish border on Tuesday, residents and an emergency worker told Reuters. The explosion struck a checkpoint some 5 km away from the border, wounding three policemen and four civilians, an emergency worker in the area said. Turkish broadcaster NTV earlier said the explosion had taken place on the Syrian side of a border crossing about 32 km west of Al-Rai. The town of Al-Rai is in an area under the control of Turkey-backed rebels and was seized from Daesh (ISIS) militants in Ankara’s "Euphrates Shield" operation in 2016.