As U.S.-backed Syrian fighters close in on Islamic State forces in Raqqa, they are encountering captured ISIS fighters who show signs that they are using amphetamines to continue fighting.
"The few ISIS terrorists the SDF managed to capture alive, and the even fewer who have surrendered, show vividly their desperation," said Col. Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve. "They are malnourished, emaciated and, many of them, pocked with needle tracks from what is assessed as amphetamines they used to maintain their murderous fervor."
U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have cleared about 55 percent of Raqqa, and continue to advance through dense urban terrain despite fierce resistance and "scores" of improvised explosive devices.
"ISIS has had time to rig up thousands of fiendishly clever explosives and to dig extensive tunnels throughout the city," Dillon said in a Pentagon briefing, piped in from Baghdad.
"They are using these tunnels and improvised explosive devices to attack advancing SDF fighters, as well as noncombatants trying to flee their homes."
But Dillon said ISIS has been reduced to a small group of "desperate and fanatical terrorists" who "cling to territory with no escape."
The U.S.-led coalition has conducted more than 200 airstrikes this week in and around Raqqa, destroying more than 180 ISIS fighting positions, car bombs and other various improvised explosive devices.
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