Game over for ISIS in Syria

Fighters from Syrian forces celebrate on Saturday. Pics/AFP

US-backed forces in Syria announced on Saturday that they have liberated the last area held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz, declaring victory over the extremist group and the end of its self-declared Islamic caliphate.

"Syrian Democratic Forces declare total elimination of the so-called caliphate and 100 per cent territorial defeat of IS. On this unique day, we commemorate thousands of martyrs whose efforts made the victory possible," tweeted Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, referring to the group by its Arabic acronym.

An image grab released by the Kurdish Ronahi TV shows the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) raising their flag atop a building in Baghouz

However, earlier in the day, journalists in Baghouz had claimed that "there has been gunfire coming out of the ISIS positions". "If you were to look at the amount of territory, it is very small indeed, but the fighting goes on," CNN quoted one of its correspondents from the field as saying.

Elimination of the last ISIS stronghold in Baghouz marks the end of the militants' self-declared caliphate, which at its height blanketed large parts of Syria and Iraq.

The campaign to take back the territory by the US and its partners has spanned five years and two US presidencies, unleashed more than 100,000 bombs and killed over 630 civilians.

While ISIS no longer controls any territory in Syria or Iraq, it, however, continues to carry out insurgent attacks in both countries. It also maintains affiliates in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Bloodied history
The militant group began as an offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq, which in 2006 became known as the Islamic State of Iraq (ISIS). The movement, led by key al-Qaeda figures, played a major role in driving the sectarian conflict that followed the US invasion in 2003, Al Jazeera reported.

In 2010, the group's current leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was named the ISIS chief. Two years later, he mandated ISIS affiliates to set up an offshoot in Syria - a country dealing with its own civil war. At its height, the Islamic State group ruled a third of both Syria and Iraq, holding millions of people hostage to its harsh and violent interpretation of Islamic law. The group carried out large-scale massacres and documented them with slickly produced videos circulated online.

During a rampage through Iraq's Sinjar region in 2014, it captured thousands of women and girls from the Yazidi religious minority and forced them into sexual slavery. The group also used its caliphate as a launchpad for attacks around the globe, including the assaults in Paris in 2015 that killed more than 130 people.

While it imposed an unforgiving version of Islamic law through public beheadings and crucifixions, the group also carried out the mundane duties of governance in its territories, including regulating prices at markets and building infrastructure.

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