Last ISIS stronghold in Syria falls

This article is more than 12 months old

Nov 10, 2017 06:00 am

BEIRUT The Syrian army and its allies, spearheaded by Lebanon's Hezbollah, on Wednesday captured the country's last city held by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a commander in the alliance said, bringing the self-declared caliphate close to complete downfall.

"The last stronghold of Daesh (ISIS), Albu Kamal, is free of the Daesh organisation," said the commander in the military alliance supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian state television declared "Albu Kamal is liberated". But a war monitor, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said there was still fighting in the area.

Despite its losses, ISIS has a territorial presence in Libya and elsewhere, and many governments expect it to remain a threat even after it loses the caliphate it declared from Mosul, Iraq, in 2014. - REUTERS