[FOXNEWS] BAGHOUZ, Syria -- The caliphate has crumbled, and the final offensive is over. While the official announcement hasn’t yet been made ‐ Fox News has been told that this village, the last ISIS stronghold, is liberated.It’s the first time since we’ve been here in Syria for five days that the bombs have stopped dropping and the gunfire has disappeared. We have witnessed the end of the caliphate ‐ the brutal empire that once ruled over 8 million people ‐ is gone.
Troops here are now bringing down the black flags of ISIS. The flags no longer fly over the town, instilling fear.
The last five days, Fox News has witnessed the last major offensive up close -‐ with U.S.-backed SDF forces attacking ISIS from three sides, pushing the fighters back, house to house, then tent to tent, against the Euphrates River.
Inside Baghouz, it’s easy to see how they hid for so long ‐ not just in tunnels but trenches and hundreds of cubby holes covered by tarpaulins, which blend in perfectly to the dirt.
In the end, the majority surrendered. In fact, since the start of the year about 60,000 have dripped into the desert, and most are now held in camps.
There is a major concern about what to do with the camps though. The SDF has asked for U.S. support in setting up a tribunal here to prosecute them.
This final corner of the caliphate was in the far eastern desert of Syria‐ it was where ISIS first captured territory, and it is where they finally lost.
A clearing operation is now underway in the town‐ and an announcement is expected soon.
None of the main surviving ISIS leaders have been caught inside Baghouz. Instead, they left their men to fight alone. It’s thought they prepared ahead for the insurgency.
The scale of the devastation here is incredible. And everyone acknowledges that without U.S. support, it would have taken far longer.
For four-and-a-half years, ISIS held this territory, ruling over it with an iron fist. It was the terrorist group’s heartland ‐ and they were so dug in that the only way to push them back was to flatten whole villages. The devastation here goes on for miles ‐ and craters like this are a reminder of the critical role played by U.S. airpower. Military jets still fly overhead.
SDF fighters are all so grateful to the U.S., not just for their help in the battle, but now for its decision to leave troops here when it’s done. Reports now suggest the figure may be around 1,000 staying.
| An Nahar adds: |
"Our force is still carrying out combing operations and searches" for hidden jihadists, he said.
"As soon as we are done, we will announce the liberation" of Baghouz, the front man added. His comments came one day after U.S. President Donald Trump
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said the jihadists' self-proclaimed "caliphate" would be "gone as of tonight."
It also came in response to reports earlier on Thursday that the IS enclave had completely fallen.
"The SDF media team has not announced this" victory, Bali said.
The frontline was quiet on Thursday, for the second-day in a row, as the SDF paused its push to allow for more surrenders. The eerie silence that reigned over the battlefield was interrupted only by the whooshing of warplanes overhead. SDF fighters walked unarmed in a wasteland of mangled vehicles on the camp's outskirts. The flags of the Kurdish-led force dotted the area.
- 'CHANCE TO SURRENDER'-
SDF official Jiaker Amed said Thursday that several IS fighters were still in hiding.
"We have discovered several (jihadist) hideouts," he told AFP.
"We are monitoring these fighters and if they don't surrender we will launch a new operation against them," he said.
While some fighters are refusing to surrender, other jihadists and their relatives are still turning themselves in, the SDF official said.
"We are giving them a chance to surrender by slowing the military offensive," he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, AFP correspondents saw trailer trucks carrying women and kiddies exiting the jihadist redoubt.
More than 66,000 people, mostly civilians, have quit the last IS redoubt since January 9, according to the SDF. They include 37,000 civilians, 5,000 jihadists and around 24,000 of their relatives. Thousands of people who have streamed out of the last IS stronghold now fill overcrowded camps and prisons run by the Kurds further north.
Around 2000 women and kiddies from Baghouz arrived on Wednesday night at the largest camp -- Al Hol.
The camp is struggling to host 72,000 people, including more than 40,000 children, the International Rescue Committee said.
"Up to 60 (of the latest) arrivals needed immediate hospitalization and there were another 12 deaths recorded," the IRC said in a statement. "These women and kiddies are in the worst condition we have seen since the crisis first began.
"Many have been caught up in the fighting and dozens have been burnt or badly injured by shrapnel," Wendy Taeuber of the IRC was quoted as saying.
At least 138 people, mostly children, have died en route to Al Hol or shortly after arriving at the camp since December, according to the IRC.
"We are expecting another 3,000 to arrive soon and we are very worried that they may be in even worse shape," it said.