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Photos: Islamic State last enclave captured, yet threat persists

US-backed forces proclaimed the capture of Islamic State's last territory in Syria on Saturday, eliminating its rule over a self-proclaimed "caliphate", but the jihadists remain a threat from sleeper cells around the world. Originally an offshoot of Al-Qaeda, IS took large swathes of Iraq and Syria from 2014, imposing a reign of terror with public beheadings and attacks by supporters abroad - but it was eventually beaten back to the village of Baghouz.

Updated on: Mar 27, 2019 1:58 PM IST

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1/13

A fighter of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) holds her weapon as they announce the destruction of Islamic State’s control of land in eastern Syria, in Deir Al Zor, Syria March 23, 2019. “We announce today the destruction of the so-called Islamic State organisation and the end of its ground control in its last pocket in Baghouz,” Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) general commander Mazloum Abdi told a victory ceremony. (Rodi Said / REUTERS)

Updated on Mar 27, 2019 1:58 PM

A fighter of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) holds her weapon as they announce the destruction of Islamic State’s control of land in eastern Syria, in Deir Al Zor, Syria March 23, 2019. “We announce today the destruction of the so-called Islamic State organisation and the end of its ground control in its last pocket in Baghouz,” Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) general commander Mazloum Abdi told a victory ceremony. (Rodi Said / REUTERS)

2/13

Heavy smoke rises above the Islamic State's last remaining position in the village of Baghouz. SDF fighters, who besieged Baghouz for weeks while planes pounded from above, paraded in memory of 11,000 comrades killed in years of fighting against IS. A band played the American national anthem. Despite the euphoria, Abdi warned the campaign against the militants’ more hidden threats must continue. (Delil Souleiman / AFP)

Updated on Mar 27, 2019 1:58 PM

Heavy smoke rises above the Islamic State's last remaining position in the village of Baghouz. SDF fighters, who besieged Baghouz for weeks while planes pounded from above, paraded in memory of 11,000 comrades killed in years of fighting against IS. A band played the American national anthem. Despite the euphoria, Abdi warned the campaign against the militants’ more hidden threats must continue. (Delil Souleiman / AFP)

3/13

The image of fighter with the SDF is reflected on a broken mirror in the town of Baghouz. Some IS fighters still hold out in Syria’s remote central desert, and in Iraqi cities they have slipped into the shadows, staging shootings or kidnappings. The United States believes the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is in Iraq. (Delil Souleiman / AFP)

Updated on Mar 27, 2019 1:58 PM

The image of fighter with the SDF is reflected on a broken mirror in the town of Baghouz. Some IS fighters still hold out in Syria’s remote central desert, and in Iraqi cities they have slipped into the shadows, staging shootings or kidnappings. The United States believes the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is in Iraq. (Delil Souleiman / AFP)

4/13

A fighter of the SDF fires a weapon. Further afield, jihadists in Afghanistan, Nigeria and elsewhere show no sign of recanting allegiance, and intelligence services say IS devotees in the West might plot new attacks. Still, the fall of Baghouz is a big milestone in a fight waged against the group for more than four years by numerous local and global forces, some of them sworn enemies. (Rodi Said / REUTERS)

Updated on Mar 27, 2019 1:58 PM

A fighter of the SDF fires a weapon. Further afield, jihadists in Afghanistan, Nigeria and elsewhere show no sign of recanting allegiance, and intelligence services say IS devotees in the West might plot new attacks. Still, the fall of Baghouz is a big milestone in a fight waged against the group for more than four years by numerous local and global forces, some of them sworn enemies. (Rodi Said / REUTERS)

5/13

Syrian Democratic Forces put an SDF flag in al-Omar oil field in Deir Al Zor. France and Britain, which also back the SDF, welcomed the developments, though US officials acknowledged work remained. In a separate statement Saturday, President Donald Trump said the region had been “liberated,” but added the United States will remain vigilant. (Aboud Hamam / REUTERS)

Updated on Mar 27, 2019 1:58 PM

Syrian Democratic Forces put an SDF flag in al-Omar oil field in Deir Al Zor. France and Britain, which also back the SDF, welcomed the developments, though US officials acknowledged work remained. In a separate statement Saturday, President Donald Trump said the region had been “liberated,” but added the United States will remain vigilant. (Aboud Hamam / REUTERS)

6/13

A view of burnt vehicles after the US-backed forces said they had captured Baghouz. The capture of Baghouz marked a big moment in Syria’s eight-year war, wiping out one of the main contestants’ territory, with the rest split between President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey-backed rebels and the Kurdish-led SDF. (REUTERS)

Updated on Mar 27, 2019 1:58 PM

A view of burnt vehicles after the US-backed forces said they had captured Baghouz. The capture of Baghouz marked a big moment in Syria’s eight-year war, wiping out one of the main contestants’ territory, with the rest split between President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey-backed rebels and the Kurdish-led SDF. (REUTERS)

7/13

Syrian Democratic Forces fighters watch illumination rounds light up Baghouz. Assad and Iranian allies have sworn to recapture all Syria, while Turkey has threatened to drive out the SDF, which it sees as a terrorist group. The continued presence of US troops in northeast Syria might avert this. (Maya Alleruzzo / AP)

Updated on Mar 27, 2019 1:58 PM

Syrian Democratic Forces fighters watch illumination rounds light up Baghouz. Assad and Iranian allies have sworn to recapture all Syria, while Turkey has threatened to drive out the SDF, which it sees as a terrorist group. The continued presence of US troops in northeast Syria might avert this. (Maya Alleruzzo / AP)

8/13

Men walk to be screened after being evacuated out of Baghouz. IS originated as an Al-Qaeda faction in Iraq, but took advantage of Syria’s civil war to seize land there and declare a split. Oil production, extortion and stolen antiquities financed its agenda, which included slaughtering some minorities, slave auctions of captured women, grotesque punishments for minor crimes, and choreographed killing of hostages. (Felipe Dana / AP)

Updated on Mar 27, 2019 1:58 PM

Men walk to be screened after being evacuated out of Baghouz. IS originated as an Al-Qaeda faction in Iraq, but took advantage of Syria’s civil war to seize land there and declare a split. Oil production, extortion and stolen antiquities financed its agenda, which included slaughtering some minorities, slave auctions of captured women, grotesque punishments for minor crimes, and choreographed killing of hostages. (Felipe Dana / AP)

9/13

Women and children queue at a screening point as civilians stream out of Baghouz. In 2014, IS grabbed Iraq’s Mosul, erased the border with Syria and called on supporters worldwide to join a jihadist utopia, complete with currency, flag and passports. Its excesses drew an array of forces against it, driving it from Mosul and the Syrian city Raqqa during a year of heavy defeats in 2017 and down the Euphrates to Baghouz. (Delil Souleiman / AFP)

Updated on Mar 27, 2019 1:58 PM

Women and children queue at a screening point as civilians stream out of Baghouz. In 2014, IS grabbed Iraq’s Mosul, erased the border with Syria and called on supporters worldwide to join a jihadist utopia, complete with currency, flag and passports. Its excesses drew an array of forces against it, driving it from Mosul and the Syrian city Raqqa during a year of heavy defeats in 2017 and down the Euphrates to Baghouz. (Delil Souleiman / AFP)

10/13

Relatives hug a Yazidi survivor following his release from the Islamic State, in Duhok, Iraq. Over the past two months, some 60,000 people poured out, fleeing SDF bombardment and a shortage of food so severe that some were reduced to cooking grass. Civilians made up more than half the people leaving Baghouz, the SDF said, including women from the Iraqi Yazidi sect whom the jihadists sexually enslaved. (Ari Jalal / REUTERS)

Updated on Mar 27, 2019 1:58 PM

Relatives hug a Yazidi survivor following his release from the Islamic State, in Duhok, Iraq. Over the past two months, some 60,000 people poured out, fleeing SDF bombardment and a shortage of food so severe that some were reduced to cooking grass. Civilians made up more than half the people leaving Baghouz, the SDF said, including women from the Iraqi Yazidi sect whom the jihadists sexually enslaved. (Ari Jalal / REUTERS)

11/13

Children sit next to their injured mother near the village of Baghouz. Intense air strikes levelled entire districts and, according to rights groups, killed many civilians. Thousands of the group’s supporters, including many foreign women who married jihadists, also abandoned the enclave. At displacement camps the SDF had to keep them away from other, often traumatized, residents. (Rodi Said / REUTERS)

Updated on Mar 27, 2019 1:58 PM

Children sit next to their injured mother near the village of Baghouz. Intense air strikes levelled entire districts and, according to rights groups, killed many civilians. Thousands of the group’s supporters, including many foreign women who married jihadists, also abandoned the enclave. At displacement camps the SDF had to keep them away from other, often traumatized, residents. (Rodi Said / REUTERS)

12/13

Boys pray together near Baghouz. As the fighting progressed, convoys of trucks from Baghouz started to include hundreds, and then thousands, of surrendering jihadist fighters, many hobbling from their wounds. The SDF said it captured hundreds more in recent weeks who tried to slip through its cordon and escape into Iraq or across the Euphrates into the desert. (Rodi Said / REUTERS)

Updated on Mar 27, 2019 1:58 PM

Boys pray together near Baghouz. As the fighting progressed, convoys of trucks from Baghouz started to include hundreds, and then thousands, of surrendering jihadist fighters, many hobbling from their wounds. The SDF said it captured hundreds more in recent weeks who tried to slip through its cordon and escape into Iraq or across the Euphrates into the desert. (Rodi Said / REUTERS)

13/13

Islamic state fighters and their families walk as they surrendered in the village of Baghouz on March 12, 2019. In the end, they were holed up in a tiny enclave from which they released a video showing fighters still shooting with smoke billowing above - an attempt to portray their last stand as heroic and a call to arms for future jihadists. (Rodi Said / REUTERS)

Updated on Mar 27, 2019 1:58 PM

Islamic state fighters and their families walk as they surrendered in the village of Baghouz on March 12, 2019. In the end, they were holed up in a tiny enclave from which they released a video showing fighters still shooting with smoke billowing above - an attempt to portray their last stand as heroic and a call to arms for future jihadists. (Rodi Said / REUTERS)

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