The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) will launch their attack tonight as they seek to “eliminate the last remnants of the terrorist organisation”. SDF troops, led by Kurdish fighters, have been holding on the outskirts of ISIS territory for the last 10 days as more than 20,000 civilians were evacuated from the besieged enclave, the SDF said. But after nearly two weeks of waiting “patiently”, they are now due to begin their offensive on the final ISIS territory – which comprises of just two villages near the Iraqi border.
Mustafa Bali, the head of the SDF media office, described the assault as the “last battle”.
He said: “The battle will be launched this evening and its mission will be to eliminate the last remnants of the terrorist organisation.”
However ISIS still has a territorial foothold in Syria west of the Euphrates river in a part of the country otherwise held by the Syrian government and its allies.
News of tonight’s attack comes just days after President Donald Trump declared that the jihadist group would have been stamped out by next week.
He said: “It should be formally announced sometime, probably next week, that we will have 100 percent of the caliphate.”
But national security experts have warned that Mr Trump’s planned withdrawal of US forces from Syria could allow ISIS to regroup.
President Trump wants American troops out of Syria by the end of April.
He has insisted ISIS is all but defeated and the US could always return to the region if the terror organisation emerges again.
His decision to withdraw from Syria shocked America’s allies and German Chancellor Angela Merkel this week contradicted Mr Trump’s assertion that the jihadist group is beaten.
She said: “The so-called Islamic State has been luckily driven out of its territory, but this, unfortunately, doesn’t mean that Islamic State has disappeared.
“It is transforming into an asymmetrical warfare force. And this, of course, is a threat.”