IS Caliphate Shrinks to a Microscopic Grain, Coalition Declares Victory Looms
Final assault on eastern Syria is ticking up
The US‑led coalition warned Thursday that the infamous Islamic State (IS) “caliphate” is now so tiny it could fit in the teeth of a horse—less than one percent of its former glory. With the Kurdish‑led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) pausing their offensive, President Donald Trump declared that a triumphant announcement should smack down next week.
From Britain‑sized to a crumb
Back in June 2014, IS put together a proto‑state that swallowed whole chunks of Syria and Iraq—roughly the area of Britain. Fast forward to today, Major General Christopher Ghika of the coalition summed up the last IS pocket: “We’re dealing with less than one per cent of the original caliphate.”
Training the defenders, dropping bombs
The coalition has been coaching and providing air support to the SDF, which kicked off a fresh offensive in September 2018 on the last IS stronghold. In just two months they seized Hajin, the last major town under IS rule, leaving the jihadists scrambling across small hamlets in the Euphrates valley.
IS fighters cloaked as refugees
“They’re trying to slip away by blending in with innocent women and children fleeing the fighting,” Ghika warned. IS fighters, including a fair share of foreigners, have gone incognito among the civilian diaspora, fleeing the chaos.
Next week—day by day rundown
Intimidated refugees have streamed out of former IS territory, often hungry and dusty. The SDF set up screening centres to sort the haggard crowd. U.S., French, British, and other forces are actively on the hunt for wanted IS operatives mingling with civilian squalls.
Stalls, politics, and a future tweak
The SDF halted their last ground assault last week, citing that the remaining jihadists were using civilians as human shields. The kurds, who govern themselves semi‑autonomously in northeast Syria, are quietly negotiating the region’s future amid all the back‑stage drama.
Trump’s troop withdrawal and the human‑shield danger
Back in December, Trump announced a full troop withdrawal from Syria—a shock that left the kurds scrambling for fresh allies. Speaking at the State Department, he emphasized that U.S. forces and their Kurdish partners should officially declare the end of the “caliphate” sometime next week.
“Remnants—just that, but remnants can be dangerous,” Trump added. “Rest assured, we’ll do what it takes to defeat every ounce and every last person within this ISIS madness.”
IS beyond frontlines—guerrilla whispers
Though IS now has no fixed mooks in Iraq or Syria, their surviving fighters have slipped into guerrilla actions, keeping the threat alive. They’ve set up sleeper cells along the Iraq border and in cities they once ruled, launching hit‑and‑run attacks.
Arrests and behind‑the‑scenes capturing
The SDF seized 63 suspected militants in the Syrian city of Raqa during a bust on sleeper cells, with 48 of them alleged IS members, according to the Britain‑based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Observatory highlights that these cells likely killed 50 civilians and 135 SDF fighters since August.
Transparency—a missing piece
More than 37,000—mostly wives and children of IS fighters—have fled since the SDF, backed by the coalition’s December offensive. This figure contains about 3,200 suspected jihadists. Kurdish authorities claim they hold hundreds of foreign male IS members.
Mustefa Bali, SDF spokesman, told AFP that the group is detaining foreign IS fighters “on a daily basis.”
Most captured jihadists are eager to return home—an urge the Kurdish administration shares. Governments back in the jihadists’ home countries often hesitate, though France is considering limited repatriations.
Human Rights Watch warns that any transfers of suspected foreign jihadists and their families out of Syria must be transparent. “We would definitely like to be present—or at least see a transparent process,” HRW’s counter‑terrorism director Nadim Houry told AFP from Amuda. “Things happen in the dark; let’s keep it clear.”
