[Straits Times] As the siege of Marawi enters its fourth week, more than 200 people have lost their lives and much of the city lies in ruins. The strongest attempt yet by Islamic State supporters to seize and hold territory in southeast Asia has turned into urban street battles in what is now largely a ghost town.The Philippine military seems to have adopted a strategy of destroying the city to save it, conducting bombing runs at least twice a day. The insue holding on to a piece of the city centre, controlling checkpoints on several bridges and planting well-armed snipers in some of the city's mosques. Hundreds of civilians are believed to be in their midst, making the government assault more difficult.
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Marawi, a city of 200,000, sits on the shore of Lake Lanao on Mindanao. The Agus River, which flows from the lake, divides the city. The rebels still hold the part of the city southeast of the river that was once the economic and business center. The heaviest fighting is concentrated there in an area of about 500 square meters, a military commander said.
Rebel snipers are positioned in the taller buildings, forcing troops to maintain their distance. The military said the rebels control a fifth of the city.
Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Tampus said, "It's urban warfare, face-to-face combat. They are still holding out. The fighting is house to house, building by building."
The military controls the skies and has been using helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to bomb the city, inflicting heavy damage but failing to drive out the rebels so far.
The military says militants are using mosques and religious schools as bases for fighting, including for placement of sniper nests; soldiers cannot attack these buildings because they are protected as cultural monuments.
As the battle rages on, ISIS has posted videos promoting the militants' narrative that they are winning and that the Philippine army had "completely failed" to retake the city. The most recent clip shows men firing weapons from buildings interspersed with scenes of Marawi. It ends with a graphic execution in which six men in orange shirts and handcuffs are made to kneel and are then machine-gunned from the back. Military spokesman Zia Alonto Adiong said the scenes of rebe;s firing weapons "appear to be (in) Marawi", but that the executions do not.
The military yesterday also said that US troops are on the ground near Marawi but are not involved in fighting. It earlier said the US was providing technical assistance, but had no boots on the ground. It was not clear how close to the battle zone the US troops are.