Syria declares victory over ISIS as last town Albu Kamal falls

Syria’s army declared victory over ISIS on Thursday, saying its capture of the jihadists’ last town in the country marked the collapse of their project in the region.

The army and its allies are still fighting ISIS in desert areas near Albu Kamal, the last town the terrorist group had held in Syria, near the border with Iraq, the army said.

But the capture of the town ends ISIS’ era of territorial rule over the so-called caliphate that it proclaimed in 2014 across Iraq and Syria and in which millions suffered under its hardline, repressive strictures.

Yet after ferocious defensive battles in its most important cities this year, where its fighters bled for every house and street, its final collapse has come with lightning speed.

Instead of a battle to the death as they mounted a last stand in the Euphrates valley towns and villages near the border between Iraq and Syria, many fighters surrendered or fled.

In Albu Kamal, the jihadists had fought fiercely, said a commander in the pro-Syrian government military alliance. But it was captured the same day the assault began.

This sealed “the fall of the terrorist Daesh organisation’s project in the region”, an army statement said, using an Arabic term for …read more