ISIS losing its last turf

US-backed Syrian forces captured 41 positions held by ISIS and destroyed its fortifications in the last tiny pocket the militants hold in eastern Syria, a spokesman said Sunday.

Mustafa Bali said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces made the advances overnight and on Sunday, hours after they launched a final push to clear the area of ISIS Saturday night.

The last battle to eliminate ISIS in the village of Baghouz was playing out Sunday night and Monday morning after 20,000 civilians were evacuated from the region.

Bali said heavy fighting was going on in Baghouz, adding that an ISIS counterattack was foiled early in the day. US-led coali- tion warplanes were giving cover to advancing SDF fighters.

President Trump predicted Wednesday that ISIS would soon lose all the territory it once controlled in Iraq and Syria.

That would mark the end of a four-year war to end the extremist group’s territorial hold over large parts of Syria and Iraq, where it established its self-proclaimed “caliphate” in 2014.

American officials have said that ISIS has lost 99.5 percent of its territory and is holding on to fewer than two square miles in Syria. But activists say ISIS still has sleeper cells in Syria and Iraq, and the US military has warned the group could stage a comeback if pressure on it is eased.