In eastern Syria, troops under Kurdish leadership have claimed to have launched the final attack on the last bastion of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia.
The fighting had begun, said the spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mustafa Bali, on Sunday evening, the German Press Agency. According to him, it is unlikely that the extremists remaining in Baghus will turn up. The deadline for the IS has expired. Bali reported on Twitter that international anti-IS coalition jets flee attacks on terrorist arms.
The last IS fighters are trapped in a confined space at the Iraqi border. The SDF had last stopped the attacks so civilians can leave Baghus. According to Bali, tens of thousands fled the town. Thousands of terrorists of various nationalities have surrendered, he said. In the hands of the Kurds are also German IS fighters and their family members.
IS had peaked in the summer of 2014, controlling large parts of Syria and Iraq. Meanwhile, he has almost completely lost his former dominion. Most of their territory in Syria was conquered by the SDF.
However, jihadist cells continue to be active in both countries. Again and again there are attacks in various areas of the jihadists. Many of them have gone underground in the desert areas of the two countries. Observers warn that IS has not yet been defeated.
US National Security Advisor John Bolton said Sunday that while IS has lost nearly 100 percent of its conquered territory, it remains dangerous as a terrorist organization. „We now know that there are still scattered IS fighters in Iraq and Syria, and that IS itself is growing in other parts of the world,“ Bolton told ABC. „The threat of IS will remain.“
At the end of February, US President Donald Trump claimed that the IS area was recaptured „100 percent“ and that the threat was largely averted. He is pursuing the goal of withdrawing the US troops in the country as soon as possible.
