The White House and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) officially declared that the Islamic State no longer holds any territory inside Syria, after losing its last territory in the village of Baghouz. “Syrian Democratic Forces declare total elimination of so-called caliphate and 100 percent territorial defeat of ISIS,” said Mustafa Bali, spokesman of the US-backed group. “On this unique day, we commemorate thousands of martyrs whose efforts made the victory possible.” Kurdish TV showed SDF fighters raising victory flags in Baghuz, after fighting the last battle for weeks since the beginning of March. Many Isis fighters have either surrendered to the SDF forces or escaped to other places across the region, which is why many think they still pose a threat. “The organisation is weaker, but there are still people there to take on the leadership function as we have seen many times in organisations such as these and the organisation is active,” warns senior British officer Chris Ghika. “We have low hundreds of fighters left in Syria and low tens of thousands in Iraq, but not all of them are fighters there, there is a support network, support staff, sympathisers.” IS also…
ISIS Loses Its Last Territory, Yet the Region Looks More Dysfunctional
March 23, 2019
