ISIS defeated, ‘caliphate’ eliminated: US-backed SDF

US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) formally announced the destruction of Daesh's control of land in eastern Syria on Saturday but said it would continue its military and security campaigns against the group's sleeper cells.
At a televised ceremony, its general command called on the Syrian government, which has sworn to retake the whole country, to recognize the autonomous administration that runs areas the SDF controls in northeast Syria.
It also called on Turkey, which regards the SDF as a terrorist organization and has staged incursions into Syria against it, to leave Syrian territory, especially the mostly Kurdish region of Afrin.

The SDF has been battling to capture Baghouz at the Iraqi border for weeks.

Though the defeat of Daesh at Baghouz ends the group’s grip over the extremist quasi-state straddling Syria and Iraq that it declared in 2014, it remains a threat.
Some of its fighters still hold out in Syria’s remote central desert and in Iraqi cities they have slipped into the shadows, staging sudden shootings or kidnappings and awaiting a chance to rise again.
The US believes the group’s leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, is in Iraq. He stood at the pulpit of the great medieval mosque in Mosul in 2014 to declare himself caliph, sovereign over all Muslims.

A senior US diplomat says the territorial defeat of Daesh is a "critical milestone" that delivers a crushing and strategic blow to the extremist group.
William Roebuck, the State Department's official in charge of Syria, adds, however, that the campaign against Daesh is not over, saying the group remains a significant threat in the region.
"We still have much work to do to achieve an enduring defeat of IS," Roebuck said Saturday at a ceremony in eastern Syria's Al-Omar oil field base, celebrating victory over the group in Baghouz, Daesh's last stronghold in Syria.
Roebuck promised continued support to America's local partners in Syria to continue fighting the terrorist group.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Saturday the fall of the last bastion held by Daesh terrorist in Syria marked "a historic milestone" as she paid tribute to British forces and coalition partners.
"The liberation of the last (IS)-held territory is a historic milestone that would not have been possible without their commitment, professionalism and courage," she said in a statement.