Syrian Democratic Forces Announce Complete Defeat of ISIS

Hours after Donald Trump, the President of the United States, announced the complete defeat of ISIS, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declared on Saturday morning, April 2, that the battles in the village of Baghouz, in southern Syria, have ended, and with the "complete cleansing" of ISIS remnants in this village, the so-called Islamic Caliphate has come to an end. Mustafa Bali, the spokesperson for the SDF, tweeted that ISIS has lost 100% of its territory and has been defeated. Bali had stated on Friday evening, shortly after Trump's remarks, that battles were ongoing in the village of Baghouz with the last remnants of ISIS. Trump, in a brief conversation with reporters on Friday, announced that ISIS no longer controls any territory. He showed reporters two maps, one depicting the status of ISIS in Syria before the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the other showing the current situation. Trump described the elimination of the red dots on the map, which indicated the defeat of ISIS's governance in Syrian territory, as a success of his administration in combating the group known as the "Islamic State." Russian officials announced the "final operation," and Qassem Soleimani spoke of the "end of ISIS's dominance." The group known as the "Islamic State" captured parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014 through extensive attacks and declared an "Islamic Caliphate" in those areas. The U.S. formed a global coalition in 2015 to counter this group and, among other support, provided air support to the SDF, helping them drive ISIS out of northeastern Syria and southern Euphrates Valley. Meanwhile, Iran and Russia, the two main allies of Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian war, have also described the defeat of ISIS as a result of their operations. Bashar Jaafari, Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, stated on Friday that ISIS has not yet been completely destroyed in his country, saying, "It was the Syrian government that fought ISIS with the support of Russia and Iran, not the United States." Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, had informed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, last year about the "end of dominance" of the Islamic State group (ISIS) in Syria and Iraq. The Associated Press reported that ISIS currently controls no territory in Iraq and Syria, but occasional attacks by ISIS continue in both countries and also in other parts of the world, especially Afghanistan and the Sinai Peninsula.