BEIRUT — U.S.-backed Syrian forces captured 41 positions held by ISIL militants and destroyed their fortifications in the last tiny pocket they hold in eastern Syria amid fierce fighting, a spokesman said Sunday. Following a CNN report that quoted two allegedly Canadian women detained as they fled the caliphate’s last enclave, Global Affairs Canada confirmed to City News that it is aware that Canadian citizens have been detained in Syria. “Then finally he said you have to come, but I was studying,” she told CNN. Both women, each of whom had children with them, claimed they knew nothing about ISIL before travelling to the region. But activists and residents say ISIL still has sleeper cells in Syria and Iraq, and is laying the groundwork for an insurgency .

Source: National Post February 10, 2019 17:15 UTC