US-backed Syrian force declares victory over IS

DAMASCUS/LONDON: US-backed Syrian forces say they have liberated the last area held by the Islamic State group in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz, declaring victory over the extremists and the end of their self-declared caliphate.

Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, tweeted that “Baghouz is free and the military victory against Daesh has been achieved”, referring to the group by its Arabic acronym.

Bali said the so-called caliphate, which once sprawled across much of Syria and neighbouring Iraq, is gone, and pledged to continue the fight against remnants of the extremist group until they are completely eradicated.

The announcement marks the end of a four-and-a-half year campaign by an array of forces against the extremist group, which at its height in 2014 ruled an area the size of the United Kingdom, including several major cities and towns.

The group no longer controls any territory in Syria or Iraq, but continues to carry out insurgent attacks in both countries. It also maintains affiliates in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, British forces will not scale-back their presence in Syria and Iraq following the capture of the last remaining territory held by the so-called Islamic State. Major General Chris Ghika, Deputy Commander of the Global Coalition’s joint task force, said the terror organisation is by no means “leaderless or rudderless”, despite its loss of physical territory.

But he said he could not predict whether the fall of the physical territory would substantially increase or decrease the terror risk to the UK.

Maj Gen Ghika told reporters at a Ministry of Defence briefing ahead of Baghouz’s fall: “There are no plans to scale down the contribution to Operation Shader.” He added: “The US have said they are going to keep a presence in northern Syria so air power will play an important part in that, and we expect the British contribution to keep going on that side.

“In Iraq exactly the same maxim applies, the British troops that are training the Iraqi security forces are going to stay and keep doing what they are doing... because Isis continues to present a threat and that threat is met largely by the Iraqi security forces.”

Maj Gen Ghika said the coalition must remain “very conscious” about the continued threat of IS and warned against allowing Syria to become a “safe haven” for the ideology.

The military commander said it was a “sovereign national decision” for countries on whether take back citizens who joined IS. He said the British government must decide whether British forces will have a role in repatriating citizens, including children of fighters.

Maj Gen Ghika was also asked about whether the MoD will attempt to gather evidence from the battlefield once fighting is over which could be used to prosecute British fighters. He said: “I think that’s too early to say whether that’s going to be possible but I think if we found any individual of any nation and we were able to link them to crimes and with evidence we have then we would expect them to be prosecuted under the force of the law.”