American-backed Syrian forces claim ISIS beaten
Celebration has been 4½ years in the making
The Islamic State group lost its final sliver of territory in Syria, the U.s.backed Syrian Democratic Forces said Saturday while declaring victory over the extremists.
However, the announcement came with warnings that the group remains a threat.
Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the SDF, tweeted that the militant group, also known as ISIS, suffered “100 percent territorial defeat.” He said that the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz, where jihadists had been mounting a last stand, “is free and the military victory against Daesh has been achieved.” Daesh is ISIS’ Arabic acronym.
Bali said that the self-declared caliphate that ISIS established in 2014, and which once sprawled across much of Syria and neighboring Iraq while imposing brutal rule on as many as 8 million people, had been eradicated. He said the SDF pledged to continue the fight against remnants of the extremist group until they are completely gone.
Saturday’s announcement is significant. It marks the end of a 4½-year military campaign by an array of forces against the extremist group, which at its height in 2014 ruled an area the size of the United Kingdom, including several major cities and towns.
It follows remarks by President Donald Trump after landing in Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday. “That’s what we have right now,” he said while showing a map comparing Isis-held territory in Syria and Iraq in 2014 with today. The map indicated ISIS’ diminished territory. It “will be gone by tonight,” he said.
On Saturday, the White House issued a statement from Trump announcing that the Isis-controlled area had been liberated.
“ISIS’S loss of territory is further evidence of its false narrative, which tries to legitimize a record of savagery that includes brutal executions, the exploitation of children as soldiers, and the sexual abuse and murder of women and children,” Trump said in the statement. “To all of the young people on the internet believing in ISIS’S Propaganda, you will be dead if you join. Think instead about having a great life.”
But the jihadist group remains a serious threat despite repeated announcements from Trump that it had been completely defeated and that its demise meant there was no longer any reason to keep U.S. troops deployed in Syria.
Although ISIS has yielded all of its physical territory in Syria or Iraq, it is still a potent fighting force and continues to carry out insurgent attacks in both countries.
It also maintains affiliates in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
ISIS is still “a great threat to our region and our world,” said Gen. Mazloum Kobani, the commander of SDF forces. His comments were echoed by William Roebuck, the U.S.’S special envoy for Syria, who said ISIS remains a threat to the U.S. and its allies.
According to a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, ISIS might still have 20,000 to 30,000 active fighters in Syria and Iraq.