Syrian rebels said they captured the village of Dabiq from Islamic State on Sunday, forcing the jihadist group from a stronghold where it had promised to fight a final, apocalyptic battle with the West. "The Daesh myth of their great battle in Dabiq is finished," he told Reuters, using a pejorative name for Islamic State. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman said that Dabiq's liberation was a "strategic and symbolic victory" against Islamic State. An Islamic prophecy names Dabiq as the site of a battle between Muslims and infidels that will presage doomsday, a message Islamic State used extensively in its propaganda, going so far as to name its main publication after the village. The rebels and Turkish military were working to secure Dabiq's surroundings to prevent any remaining Islamic State fighters trapped in the area from escaping.

Source: Egypt Independent October 16, 2016 21:22 UTC