IS ‘caliphate’ in Syria dead within a month
AFP :
Military operations against the Islamic State group in Syria are wrapping up and the last pockets of the jihadists’ self-proclaimed “caliphate” will be flushed out within a month, a top commander said.
Mazloum Kobani, the chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spearheading the battle against IS, told AFP that its “special status” should be preserved in any talks with the Damascus government. “The operation of our forces against IS in its last pocket has reached its end and IS fighters are now surrounded in one area,” said Kobani, the top commander of the SDF. With backing from the US-led coalition, the SDF are in the last phase of an operation started on September 10 to defeat the jihadists in their Euphrates Valley bastions in eastern Syria. “We need a month to eliminate IS
remnants still in the area,” said Kobani, who spoke to AFP on Thursday near the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh. A few hundred IS fighters are defending a handful of hamlets near the Iraqi border, the last rump of a “caliphate” which the jihadist organisation proclaimed in 2014 and once covered territory the size of Britain. “I believe that during the next month we will officially announce the end of the military presence on the ground of the so-called caliphate,” Kobani said.
Intense fighting in the area known as “the Hajin pocket” has left hundreds of fighters dead on both sides, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
Military operations against the Islamic State group in Syria are wrapping up and the last pockets of the jihadists’ self-proclaimed “caliphate” will be flushed out within a month, a top commander said.
Mazloum Kobani, the chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spearheading the battle against IS, told AFP that its “special status” should be preserved in any talks with the Damascus government. “The operation of our forces against IS in its last pocket has reached its end and IS fighters are now surrounded in one area,” said Kobani, the top commander of the SDF. With backing from the US-led coalition, the SDF are in the last phase of an operation started on September 10 to defeat the jihadists in their Euphrates Valley bastions in eastern Syria. “We need a month to eliminate IS
remnants still in the area,” said Kobani, who spoke to AFP on Thursday near the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh. A few hundred IS fighters are defending a handful of hamlets near the Iraqi border, the last rump of a “caliphate” which the jihadist organisation proclaimed in 2014 and once covered territory the size of Britain. “I believe that during the next month we will officially announce the end of the military presence on the ground of the so-called caliphate,” Kobani said.
Intense fighting in the area known as “the Hajin pocket” has left hundreds of fighters dead on both sides, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
