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US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian forces have launched a last-ditch effort to defeat the Islamic State group in the last-ditch pocket of extremists in eastern Syria.
Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Mustafa Bali tweeted that the offensive had started on Saturday after more than 20,000 civilians were evacuated from the Isis-controlled area in the province of Deir ez- Zor, in the east of the country. A statement from the SDF said the offensive was targeting the village of Baghuz.
The SDF, backed by US air power, chased Isis from vast areas of the territory it once controlled in northern and eastern Syria, confining extremists to a small territory near the Iraqi border.
Dozens of Isis fighters are now besieged in two villages, less than 1 percent of the so-called caliphate that once stretched over large parts of Syria and Iraq. In recent weeks, thousands of civilians, including families of Isis fighters, have left the region controlled by extremists.
Map of the territory of Isis
"The decisive battle started tonight to finish what remains of the Daesh terrorists," Bali said, using an Arabic name for Isis.
"The battle is very fierce," he told the Associated Press. "Those who stay inside are the most experienced who defend their last stronghold. According to this, you can imagine the ferocity and the scale of the fighting. "
Bali has not said how long they expect from the battle.
The Syrian observer for human rights, a British-based war observer, said the SDF fighters were advancing "cautiously" because of the mines planted by Isis gunmen. The warplanes of the US-led coalition cover the advance of SDF fighters.
US President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Isis would have lost all of its territory by next week.
"It should be officially announced sometime, probably next week, that we will have 100% of the caliphate," Trump told representatives of the 79-member coalition fighting Isis.
US officials have said in recent weeks that Isis had lost 99.5% of its territory and was less than 5 km 2 in Syria, less than 2 km 2, where the majority of fighters are concentrated. . But activists and residents say Isis still has dormant cells in Syria and Iraq and is setting the stage for an insurgency. The US military has warned that the group could return if military and anti-terrorist pressure on the group subsides.
Earlier Saturday, Isis militants attacked SDF fighters near an oil field in the east of the country, prompting air strikes by the US-led coalition.
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