Islamic State guerrilla attacks point to its future strategy

A flag of Islamic State militants is pictured above a destroyed house near the Clock Square in Raqqa, Syria October 18, 2017. Picture taken October 18, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian and Iraqi forces closing in on the last scraps of Islamic State's caliphate straddling the remote border area between the two countries have already witnessed the jihadists' likely response.

While their comrades mounted last stands in their Syrian capital of Raqqa and the city of Hawija in Iraq, IS militants seized the Syrian town of al-Qaryatayn and launched its biggest attack for months in Ramadi late last month. That is the kind of guerrilla insurgency both countries foresee IS turning to.