DAMASCUS, SYRIA (8:30 P.M.) – Overnight, heavy clashes erupted in the predominately Sunni city of Marawi in the southern Philippines after security forces and ISIS sleeper cells battled it out for hours on end.
2 soldiers and 1 police officer were killed in the initial skirmishes although no civilians were injured by crossfire, a military source told Al-Masdar News.
Subsequently, the Philippine Army withdrew from most of the city on Tuesday morning, thereby making it the first city in southeast Asia to come under Islamic State control.
Some 500 ISIS insurgents are said to be present in Marawi. These heavily armed jihadist fighters have taken control of the city center and set up roadblocks in several districts.
In addition, ISIS members have captured the main prison in Marawi and released over a hundred prisoners, many of whom are caliphate sympathisers and may join its ranks.
Dozens of military vehicles and weapons were also captured during the battle although no official confirmation on the events have been issued by Amaq Agency yet.
Pictures of ISIS fighters raising the notorious black flag in downtown Marawi:
| Al-Masdar News Chris Tomson | Al-Masdar News
In response, Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao province while the provincial mayor called on the army to send reinforcements which are expected to arrive tomorrow for a coming counter-assault.
The Philippine Army still controls most army bases and government buildings inside Marawi and has set up checkpoints on its outskirts although ISIS controls most of the residential areas. For instance, the main hospital in the city remains under siege. Marawi is home to over 200,000 residents and is roughly the size of Raqqa in comparison.
Rodrigo Duterte is currently in Moscow, visiting Vladimir Putin.
Amaq Agency recently released a series of images depicting an ISIS training camp at an undisclosed location in southeast Asia, likely near the newly captured Marawi city.
The jihadist takeover was spearheaded by two allied ISIS franchise groups, namely the Maute group and Abu Sayyaf.
Make sure to follow AMN Deputy Editor Chris Tomson on Twitter for the latest updates on the situation in Marawi:
UPDATE: Amaq Agency has now confirmed the ISIS assault, publishing pictures of jihadist militants waving the black flag across the city. Heavy clashes continued overnight on Wednesday as the Philippine Army – led by the 103rd Brigade – tried to retake its lost areas. Meanwhile, ISIS captured the Amai Pakpak Hospital.
octocure on May 26th, 2017 at 10:03 UTC »
This is bullshit article, ISIS does not control the city. It's basically ISIS propaganda.
redkinoko on May 26th, 2017 at 09:33 UTC »
This isn't accurate and a lot of false news have been spread out by ISIS sympathizers and political machines that seek to take advantage of the situation.
Control of Marawi City is still largely in military hands. The bandits are holed up in a few neighborhoods but are largely in defensive mode.
The group that took over isn't really ISIS but ISIS sympathizers, i.e. people who want to play ISIS or at least get some sort of franchise recognition from the main group.
A lot of the reports, including the stuff mentioned here, are unconfirmed and being debunked one-by-one as news coverage is improving in the area. Reports of beheaded police chiefs, priests etc have been proven false by the said beheaded people themselves.
The number is closer to 100 insurgents and there are no "dozens" of military hardware seized, unless you count that armored bank car they are parading around in.
Doctors from the said hospital are now saying they were never taken over by the armed rebels.
edit: sorry for the lack of sources. To be honest, I still try to sift through the articles even if they're from purportedly credible sources in our country since the dynamic nature of the situation and the emotions of everybody, including officials and journalists, are running a bit too high for full objectivity.
There's a nice situationer by the Philippine Star in this link: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/05/25/1703153/marawi-crisis-what-we-know-so-far
And here's a more recent article about the hospital "under siege":
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/regions/612181/doctor-denies-marawi-hospital-taken-over-by-maute/story/
The problem as I see it is that reports from various eyewitnesses are contradictory and even the government officials are getting it wrong way too many times. As I see it, the only time we'll really know what happened is when the fighting's ended and people can corroborate information.
edit again: Lots of people are commenting on how #2 doesn't matter that this is ISIS. That's easy to say from your perspective in the same way you can see the Syrian conflict as pro-assad, anti-assad, and isis. The picture locally is much much more murky.
I'll try to simplify things. Lots of people in South East Asia want to join ISIS in Syria but it's too far. There are lots of islamist groups in the Philippines and South East Asia (JI, MILF, ASG, and a dozen others) but nobody's as hardline as ISIS, which emphasizes religious doctrine and nothing else. The rest of the groups have financial and political motivators. That's why even when people want to join ISIS but cant, they dont join the other groups. The Maute Group is one such radical group but they do not following ISIS doctrines. They're more of a hired gun group and bandits from other bandit groups. They want those potential ISIS members to join them. They did this attack in the ISIS name so they world will call them ISIS. By getting the branding they get more people to join them. To lump them together is to legitimize what they want.
ecryz on May 26th, 2017 at 07:15 UTC »
Where can I see a complete updated map of the territory they control?