Kurdish militias have launched the "decisive battle" against the Islamic State in Syria

The US-backed Kurdish alliance in Syria announced on Saturday that the "decisive battle" was beginning to "eliminate" the Islamic State's jihadists from their last bastion in the east of the country.

"The battle has begun," said a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mustefa Bali. "SDS forces launched decisive battle to eliminate what remains of terroristsfrom ISIS, indicated in his Twitter account.

On its website, the SDS announce "the final battle to eliminate the terrorist organization Dáesh in the city of Baghuz"Using the ISIS Arabic acronym, Bali emphasized in that the militias" will continue their fight until the end ". Make sure the whole area is "liberated".

ISIS had created in 2014 a "Caliphate" of an immense territory, almost the size of Great Britain, but since then, it has progressively lost ground and its area under control now represents less than 1% of the population. 39, initial extent, according to military sources.

Islamic State jihadists still in place in Deir Ezzor province an area of ​​about 4 square kilometers, which range from the city of Baghuz to the Iraqi border, according to the SDS.

"Between 500 and 600 terrorists"They would still be in this redoubt, according to testimonies of people fleeing the area," said Bali, adding that hundreds of civilians are still there. "The battle will end in the next days"he said.

According to Bali, most of the remaining fighters are mostly "foreigners". In addition, most of the people who have been in the last two months and continue to be arrested are foreigners.

– imminent victory? –
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, badured that a final victory over ISIS was imminent. "The official announcement that we have recovered 100% of the" caliphate "must be formulated in the coming weeks," said the president, who said that there was almost nothing left of the jihadist forces.

The last days, the SDS had halted its progress on the positions of the Islamic State to allow the departure of civiliansespecially women, the elderly and children.

This Saturday, after announcing on its website the "final battle" against the Islamic State, the SDS had explained that "more than 20,000 civilians had been evacuated" from the region in the last 10 days.

However, this Saturday, it seemed that the big fights had not started on the field yet.

In this sense, an SDS spokesman said Saturday that "the progress is slow, when there are movements of jihadists, we hit the artillery".

– foreign presence –
With the support of the international coalition, the FDS launched their offensive against the last fiefs of the Islamic State last September, gradually taking over urban centers.

According to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (based in London), at least 1,200 fighters of the Islamic State have died in these battles since September, against some 670 SDS soldiers .

The same entity estimates that about 400 civilians, including 144 children, also died during this period. Since December, some 37,000 people have fled the region.

Currently, hundreds of foreigners, in a contingent consisting of women and children, are under the control of the SDS because they are suspected of being affiliated with ISIS.

After losing control of the Baghuz region, the Islamic State has barely disperse fighters in the Syrian desert that stretches from the center of the country to the province of Deir Ezzor.

There ISIS fighters no longer control any urban centers and fighting has occurred with regular Syrian armed forces.

The conflict in Syria, which broke out in 2011, has already caused 360,000 deaths, in a bloodbath further complicated by the intervention of several countries.

Currently, Bashar al-Assad's government controls about two-thirds of Syrian territory, thanks in part to support from Russia, Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah group. Thus, the fighting is now limited to the area where ISIS is located.

(With information from AFP)