US-backed Syrian forces launch attack on final Isis stronghold

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian forces have launched a final push to defeat the Islamic State group in the last tiny pocket the extremists hold in eastern Syria.

The Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Mustafa Bali tweeted the offensive began on Saturday after more than 20,000 civilians were evacuated from the Isis-held area in the eastern province of Deir ez-Zor. An SDF statement said the offensive was focused on the village of Baghuz.

The SDF, backed by US air power, has driven Isis from large swaths of territory it once controlled in northern and eastern Syria, confining the extremists to a small pocket of land near the border with Iraq.

Scores of Isis fighters are now besieged in two villages, or less than 1% of the self-styled caliphate that once sprawled across large parts of Syria and Iraq. In recent weeks, thousands of civilians, including families of Isis fighters, left the area controlled by the extremists.

-snip-

Associated Press
Sun 10 Feb 2019 02.24 GMT Last modified on Sun 10 Feb 2019 07.12 GMT


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/10/us-backed-syrian-forces-launch-attack-on-final-isis-stronghold

[keithbvadu2]

1. "to defeat"? - Stable genius says they already are defeated in Syria.