{"id":48235,"date":"2019-03-20T22:46:04","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T22:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/03\/20\/trump-says-isis-territory-in-syria-nearly-eliminated\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:47:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:47:49","slug":"trump-says-isis-territory-in-syria-nearly-eliminated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/03\/20\/trump-says-isis-territory-in-syria-nearly-eliminated\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says ISIS territory in Syria nearly eliminated"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump said Wednesday the last pocket of the Islamic State\u2019s land in Syria will be liberated by U.S.-backed forces \u201cby tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/03\/01\/trump-wrongly-says-islamic-state-holds-no-land-in-syria\/\" target=\"_blank\">previously announced the defeat of the group<\/a>, but sleeper cells of fighters have re-emerged. With no signs of fighting Wednesday, however, the long-running battle to retake the militants\u2019 last outpost in eastern Syria appeared to have reached its conclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The caliphate is gone as of tonight,&#8221; Trump said in a speech at a factory in Lima, Ohio, where military tanks are assembled.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/02\/06\/trump-predicts-isis-will-lose-last-of-its-land-as-early-as-next-week\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4833765.jpg_b77888.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Trump predicts ISIS will lose last of its land as early as next week<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Pentagon officials have said the extremist group still hold small pockets of territory in the Middle East, presenting a continued threat.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2019\/03\/19\/us-backed-forces-seize-isis-camp-in-syria-while-assault-on-last-village-held-by-militants-continues\/\" target=_blank>complete fall of Baghouz <\/a>would mark the end of the Islamic State group\u2019s self-declared caliphate, which at its height stretched across large parts of Syria and Iraq. Controlling territory gave it room to launch attacks around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During his speech, Trump held up two maps of Syria \u2014 one covered in red representing territory held by the militant group when he was elected president in November 2016 and the other that had only a speck of red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;When I took over, it was a mess. They were all over the place \u2014 all over Syria and Iraq,&#8221; said Trump, who has said the U.S. will keep 400 troops in Syria indefinitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/02\/22\/us-to-keep-10-percent-of-its-fighting-forces-in-syria-reversing-trumps-planned-full-withdrawal\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"157\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/C-syria.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US to keep 10 percent of its fighting forces in Syria, reversing Trump\u2019s planned full withdrawal<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">About 200 U.S. troops will remain in Syria for the foreseeable future, a reversal of White House plans for a full withdrawal from the war-torn country, after lawmakers voiced concerns about the security ramifications of a hasty retreat.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the past four years, U.S.-led forces have waged a destructive campaign against the group. But even after Baghouz\u2019s fall, ISIS maintains a scattered presence and sleeper cells that threaten a continuing insurgency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The militants have been putting up a desperate fight, their notorious propaganda machine working even on the brink of collapse. The battle for Baghouz has dragged on for weeks and the encampment had proven a major battleground, with tents covering foxholes and underground tunnels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The siege has also been slowed by the unexpectedly large number of civilians in Baghouz, most of them families of ISIS members. Over past weeks they have been flowing out, exhausted, hungry and often wounded. The sheer number who emerged \u2014 nearly 30,000 since early January, according to Kurdish officials \u2014 took the Syrian Democratic Forces by surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ciyager Amed, an official with the Kurdish-led SDF, said they were searching for any ISIS militants hiding in tunnels in a riverside pocket in the village of Baghouz. The SDF has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2019\/03\/17\/us-backed-forces-admit-to-difficulties-defeating-isis-in-syria\/\" target=\"_blank\">not yet announced a victory<\/a> over ISIS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Associated Press journalists saw SDF soldiers loading women and children into trailer trucks on the hilltop over Baghouz \u2014 a sign that evacuations were still underway Wednesday. Black smoke was rising from the village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, the SDF seized control of the encampment held by ISIS after hundreds of militants surrendered overnight, signaling the group\u2019s collapse after months of stiff resistance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Donald Trump said Wednesday the last pocket of the Islamic State\u2019s land in Syria will be liberated by U.S.-backed forces \u201cby tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":92358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,23,93,12,25,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3084],"class_list":["post-48235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"D4WQHZYMHVFOFDJK4UYMNGXMMU","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2019\/03\/20\/trump-says-isis-territory-in-syria-nearly-eliminated\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - 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