The "caliphate" declared by ISIL in 2014 was on Friday reduced to little more than a pair of border towns at the Iraq-Syria frontier, where thousands of fighters are believed to be holding out after losing nearly all other territory in both countries.
On the Syrian side, government forces declared victory in Deir Ezzor, the last major city in the country's eastern desert where the militants still had a presence. On the Iraqi side, pro-government forces said they had captured the last ISIL-held border post with Syria in the Euphrates valley and entered the nearby town of Al Qaim, the group's last Iraqi bastion.
Forces in Syria and Iraq backed by regional states and global powers now appear on the cusp of victory over the group, which proclaimed its authority over all Muslims in 2014 when it held about a third of both countries and imposed its brutal rule over millions.
A US-led international coalition which has been bombing ISIL and supporting ground allies on both sides of the frontier said the militant group now had a few thousand fighters left, mainly holed up at the border in Iraq's Al Qaim and its sister town of Albu Kamal on the Syrian side.
"We do expect them now to try to flee, but we are cognisant of that and will do all we can to annihilate ISIL leaders," the coalition spokesman US Col Ryan Dillon said.
He estimated there were 1,500-2,500 fighters left in Al Qaim and 2,000-3,000 in Albu Kamal.
But both the Iraqi and Syrian governments and their international backers say they worry that the fighters will still be able to mount guerrilla attacks once they no longer have territory to defend.
"As ISIL continues to be hunted into these smallest areas ... we see them fleeing into the desert and hiding there in an attempt to devolve back into an insurgent terrorist group," Col Dillon said. "The idea of ISIL and the virtual caliphate, that will not be defeated in the near term. There is still going to be an ISIL threat."
Driven this year from its two de facto capitals - Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria - ISIL has been pressed into an ever-shrinking pocket of desert straddling the frontier.
In Iraq, it faces the army, backed by the US-led international coalition, and Shiite militias backed by the Iraqi government and Iran. In Syria, the coalition supports an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias in areas north and east of the Euphrates, while Iran and Russia support the government of president Bashar Al Assad.
On the Syrian side, the government victory at Deir Ezzor, on the west bank of the Euphrates, ends a two-month battle for control over the city, the centre of Syria's oil production. ISIL had for years besieged a government enclave there until an army advance relieved it in early September, starting a battle for extremist-held parts of the city.
"The armed forces, in cooperation with allied forces, liberated the city of Deir Ezzor completely from the clutches of the Daesh terrorist organisation," state media reported.
Engineering units were searching streets and buildings in Deir Ezzor for mines and booby traps left behind by ISIL fighters, a Syrian military source said.
Government forces are still about 40km from the border at Albu Kamal, where they are preparing for a final showdown.
"The defeat of Albu Kamal practically means Daesh will be an organisation that will cease to exist as a leadership structure," the military source said. "It will be tantamount to a group of scattered individuals, it will no longer be an organisation with headquarters, with leadership places, with areas it controls."
The source added that he did not believe the final battle at Albu Kamal would involve "fierce resistance", as many fighters had been surrendering elsewhere.
"Some of them will fight until death, but they will not be able to do anything," he said. "It is besieged from all directions, there are no supplies, a collapse in morale, and therefore all the organisation's elements of strength are finished."
In Iraq, the military's Joint Operations Command said on Friday that the army, along with Sunni tribal fighters and Iran-backed Shiite paramilitaries known as Popular Mobilisation Forces, had captured the main border crossing on the highway between Al Qaim and Albu Kamal.
They had also entered the town of Al Qaim itself, which is located just inside the border on the south side of the Euphrates. The offensive is aimed at capturing Al Qaim and another smaller town further down the Euphrates on the north bank, Rawa.
Iraq has been carrying out its final campaign to crush ISIL while also mounting a military offensive in the north against Kurds who held an independence referendum in September.
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Read more:
ISIL executed 741 civilians during Mosul battle: UN
Our response to ISIL must be equal across the world
New York truck attack renews concern about extremism in central Asia
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What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
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Key developments in maritime dispute
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt
Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure
Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers
Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised
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Premier League results
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Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law