QAMISHLI: The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) began an assault against the final Islamic State (IS) enclave in eastern Syria on Saturday, aiming to wipe out the last vestige of the militant group’s ‘caliphate’ in the SDF’s area of operations. SDF official Mustafa Bali, speaking to Reuters, described the assault as “the last battle”. But the group steadily lost ground and its two main prizes – the Syrian city of Raqqa and Iraq’s Mosul – fell in 2017. Trump said in December he was pulling all 2,000 US troops out of Syria, saying the battle against IS there was almost won. The US-led coalition has said it is not discussing the timeline of the US withdrawal from Syria.

Source: Pakistan Today February 10, 2019 18:35 UTC