US-backed Syrian forces say Islamic State militants are in ‘final moments’

QAMISHLI, Syria/BEIRUT, Lebanon — Islamic State militants are “living their final moments” in the last enclave they hold near the Iraqi border, where US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (also known as SDF) are attacking them, an SDF official said on Sunday.

A defeat of the extremists in the enclave would wipe out Islamic State’s territorial foothold on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition said the SDF were making “great progress, … but the fight continues”.

The SDF, a coalition of militias led by the Kurdish YPG, have driven the IS group from a swathe of northern and eastern Syria with the help of the US-led coalition over the last four years.

Mustafa Bali, head of the SDF media office, said its fighters had stepped up attacks in the last two days and taken control of the area between the IS enclave and the Iraqi border, cutting off an escape route.

“They are living their final moments and realize that this battle is the battle to eliminate them,” he said.

US President Donald Trump last month announced he would withdraw US forces from Syria, declaring they had succeeded in their mission to defeat the IS group and were no longer needed.

Since then, US officials have given mixed messages.

On Friday, the US-led coalition said it had started the announced pullout, but officials later said it involved only equipment, not troops.

Colonel Sean Ryan, the coalition spokesman, said: “The SDF is making great progress and continues to liberate more territory once held by ISIS (the IS group), but the fight continues.

“The lasting defeat of ISIS is still the mission and they still present a very real threat to the long-term stability in this region, so it is not over yet.”

The US decision has injected new uncertainty into the eightyear-old Syrian war and spurred a flurry of contacts over how the security vacuum will be filled in the swathe of northern and eastern Syria where the US forces are now stationed.

The IS group still holds territory on the western bank of the Euphrates, between areas controlled by the Syrian government and its Russian and Iranianbacked allies.