ISIS has lost the last of its territory in Syria, the White House says, but sporadic fighting continues
The complete fall of the last IS stronghold in Baghouz, Syria, would mark the end of the Islamic State group's self-declared caliphate, which at its height stretched across large parts of Syria and Iraq. Controlling territory gave the group room to launch attacks around the world.
U.S. officials familiar with the situation in Syria said Friday that the Syrian Democratic Forces were still battling the last remaining IS fighters who were holed up in tunnels along the river cliffs in Baghouz and had refused to surrender. SDF spokesman Kino Gabriel told AP earlier Friday that there were still IS fighters and women and children hiding in caves near Baghouz. He said final operations were ongoing and there appeared to be several hundred people still inside. Other SDF officials said the camp was full of corpses, and that some civilians and IS fighters were still handing themselves over.
Sanders told reporters that Trump was briefed about the development by acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan who was travelling with him to Florida. “We got the information from the DOD,” she added. Trump has been teasing the victory for days, most recently Wednesday when he said the milestone would be achieved by that night. But even after Baghouz's fall, IS maintains a scattered presence and sleeper cells that threaten to continue an insurgency.
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