Battle begins over last Daesh foothold in Syria

BEIRUT— U.S.-backed forces in Syria announced the beginning Saturday of the possible final battle for the last village controlled by the militant group Daesh.

In a statement posted on its website, the Syrian Democratic Forces said the push began on Saturday night and was focused on the village of Baghouz, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River in the southeastern province of Deir al-Zour.

The brief statement gave no indication of how long it could take to capture Baghouz, but U.S. President Donald Trump said last week he had been told that the full territorial conquest of Daesh, also known as ISIS, could be completed in the coming week.

That would herald an end to the nearly five-year-old war aimed at pushing Daesh out of its self-proclaimed “caliphate,” the once vast stretch of territory spanning Syria and Iraq that at its peak was roughly the size of Britain.

Success against Daesh in Baghouz would also increase pressure on the U.S. military to pull out of Syria, in accordance with Trump’s instructions that the troops should leave once the group has been defeated.

U.S. officials caution, however, that driving Daesh out of its territory would not end the threat it poses. The militants have been regrouping as an insurgency in many of the areas they have already lost. They could quickly rebound if the military victory is not accompanied by solutions to the grievances that contributed to their rise, the officials say.

“ISIS remains an active insurgent group in both Iraq and Syria,” noted a report last week by the Pentagon’s Inspector General.

In a reminder that the militants have the capability to mount attacks well beyond the front lines, assailants on motorcycles tried to storm a base shared by the U.S. military and the SDF at the Omar oilfield on Saturday, about 95 km north of the village where the militants are making their last stand.

Most of the dozen or so attackers were killed and two managed to escape after a battle lasting several hours, during which U.S. airstrikes were called in, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.