The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said Saturday it had begun the "final battle" to oust the Islamic State group from the last scrap of territory it holds in eastern Syria. IS overran large parts of the country and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, declaring a "caliphate" there, but various military offensives have reduced it to a fragment. Backed by air strikes of the US-led coalition against IS, the Kurdish-Arab alliance has in recent months cornered the jihadists in a final pocket of territory in Syria's eastern province of Deir Ezzor.




Source: US-backed Syria force announces final push against IS