{"id":59568,"date":"2019-04-02T20:55:53","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T20:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/04\/02\/us-backed-kurdish-fighters-clash-with-isis-days-after-declaring-victory\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:25:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:25:57","slug":"us-backed-kurdish-fighters-clash-with-isis-days-after-declaring-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/04\/02\/us-backed-kurdish-fighters-clash-with-isis-days-after-declaring-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"US-backed Kurdish fighters clash with ISIS days after declaring victory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BEIRUT \u2014 U.S.-backed Syrian fighters are battling the Islamic State group in eastern Syria 10 days after declaring victory<\/a> over the extremists, an official with the Kurdish-led force said Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, said they are rooting out groups of militants who were hiding in caves in and near the village of Baghouz. He added that SDF experts are still removing mines and booby-traps<\/a> in areas liberated in recent weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SDF declared military victory over ISIS on March 23 after liberating what it said was the last pocket of territory held by the militants. The victory marked the end of the brutal self-styled caliphate the group carved out in large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nearly five-year war left a swath of destruction across both countries and ended in Baghouz, a tiny village near the Iraqi border where the cornered militants made their last stand, under a grueling siege for weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A member of the Syrian Democratic Forces inspects a discarded suicide belt in the village of Baghouz on March 24, 2019, a day after the Islamic State group’s “caliphate” was declared defeated. (Giuseppe Cacace\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the U.S.-led coalition is still conducting airstrikes against ISIS. It says senior ISIS commanders and prisoners held by the extremists are believed to be in the caves on the east bank of the Euphrates River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Observatory, which closely monitors the Syrian war through contacts on the ground, says scores of ISIS fighters and commanders who refused to surrender are still in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\t