The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said on Saturday it had begun the “final battle” to oust the Islamic State group from the last scrap of territory it holds in eastern Syria. Backed by air strikes by the US-led coalition against ISIS, the Kurdish-Arab alliance has in recent months cornered the jihadists in a final patch of territory in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor. “The SDF have launched the final battle to crush ISIS in the village of Baghouz,” the SDF said in a statement. “After ten days of evacuating more than 20,000 civilians, the battle was launched tonight to exterminate the last remnants of the organisation,” it said. ISIS overran large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, declaring a “caliphate” in areas it controlled.

Source: Punch February 09, 2019 17:37 UTC