US-backed forces about to end Islamic State's last enclave in Syria
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US-backed, Kurdish-led forces are on the verge of eliminating Islamic State militants' last remaining enclave in Syria near the border with Iraq after a four-month devastating bombing campaign that has left hundreds of civilian casualties, residents and rebels said on Wednesday.
The capture of the village of Baghous comes after a string of other villages fell in recent days to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led militia alliance with aerial bombing strikes by the US-led coalition.
The SDF, who launched a major offensive last September to remove the militants from their last pocket, were at first bogged down by fierce resistance, but advanced last month when they finally took the town of Hajin, the main urban stronghold in the enclave.
The SDF has now only a seven-kilometre stretch that separates them from full control of the entire east of the Euphrates River region, former residents and insurgents from the area say.
