“In the coming few days, in a very short time, we will spread the good tidings to the world of the military end of Daesh,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. Trump has sworn to pull US forces from Syria after Islamic State’s territorial defeat, raising questions over the fate of Washington’s Kurdish allies and Turkish involvement in northeast Syria. As the SDF advanced under heavy US airstrikes in recent days, a stream of civilians fled the few square miles of hamlets and farmland that remain within Islamic State’s ‘caliphate’, along with defeated jihadists trying to escape unnoticed. STILL A THREATIts capacity then for strategic retreats in hard times, followed by rebounds when circumstances changed, has prompted numerous warnings that Islamic State’s defeat has not ended the threat it poses to the region. That attack came soon after Trump pledged to pull out, saying Islamic State was already defeated, rattling allies and prompting defense secretary Jim Mattis to resign.

Source: bd News24 February 16, 2019 13:30 UTC