NEAR
The victory will bring the militant group, whose self-proclaimed caliphate once stretched across swathes of Syria and Iraq, to the brink of total territorial defeat.
Ciya Furat said the SDF had cornered the remaining Daesh militants in one tiny neighborhood of Baghouz village, under its fire from all sides.
“In a very short time, not longer than a few days, we will officially announce the end of Daesh’s existence,” Furat said.
With the help of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and special forces, the SDF, led by the Kurdish YPG militia, has marched into the pocket east of the Euphrates river near the Iraqi border.
Mostly foreign militants are making their last stand in Baghouz, SDF officials say. Thousands of civilians have streamed out escaping the violence this week alone.
Furat, the SDF offensive’s commander, said Daesh only held 700 square meters now. But his fighters were moving cautiously because of civilians and hostages.
“Thousands of civilians are still trapped there as human shields,” he said. “In the coming few days, in a very short time, we will spread the good tidings to the world of the military end of Daesh.”
Still, he added the SDF would soon move to the next phase of “chasing down sleeper cells and remnants spread out across the region to secure it.”
Spokesperson Mustafa Bali told Reuters the SDF had caught several militants who tried to flee among the civilians while others had handed themselves over.
The SDF believes a few hundred militants may still be holed up in the enclave, he said.
The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said earlier the SDF had taken control of all of Baghouz after the militants still there surrendered. SDF officials denied this.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the White House will make an announcement about Syria and the fight against Daesh by Saturday.
