After losing their stranglehold on Deir ez-Zor and being pushed further from their stronghold of Raqqa, Islamic State fighters have retreated towards the Euphrates river to prepare for what some senior leaders are now billing as a last stand in eastern Syria. In Raqqa to the north, where US-backed Kurdish forces have taken the Old City, Isis resistance to a relentless sweep south from north-eastern Syria has continued to evaporate. Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was reportedly sighted in Bukamal on the first day of Eid al-Adha, a witness has claimed. Both Iran and Russia had previously claimed he had been killed in an airstrike near Deir ez-Zor. The battle for the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar was won by Iraqi forces earlier this month after a much shorter than expected battle to retake it.

Source: The Guardian September 08, 2017 14:35 UTC