“The five-year battle to wrest control of much of Syria and northern Iraq from the grip of the Islamic State came to an end this weekend in the small, dusty eastern Syrian village of Baghouz, with U.S.-backed forces liberating that last patch of land under Islamic State control and bringing an end to the group’s dreams of a restored “caliphate” in the Middle East.

Kurdish and Arab militias known as Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by American and allied air power, made their final sweep through the remaining pockets of Islamic State resistance in Baghouz on Saturday — the culmination of several weeks of intense fighting for the last Islamic State foothold in Syria.

View Comments (3)

While analysts caution Islamic State will remain a serious terrorism threat to the U.S. and its allies, its total battlefield defeat stands as a stunning defeat for the terror group, which as its height held sway over a swath of territory from the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra westward to the northern Iraqi capital of Mosul.

While Islamic State leaders and fighters remain dangerous, the group no longer has a base to train, to finance operations, to recruit new forces, and to exploit the considerable energy and agricultural resources of the regions it once controlled.” (Read more at The Washington Times.)

Not sure what all this is about? Read this helpful question and answer format article in The Washington Times. Click the link.