Syria’s Kurdish-led forces close in on ISIS militants trapped in ‘last square kilometer’

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) militants using tunnels and suicide bombers were mounting a defense on Thursday of their last square kilometer in eastern Syria, AFP reported. Kurdish-led forces closed in on the small town of Baghouz. “There is significant resistance,” said Adnan Afrin, a spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-Arab outfit that has spearheaded the campaign against IS, backed by a US-led coalition. Al-Omar oil field is the main staging base for the SDF’s offensive against the very last shred of the original “caliphate.” The few hundred fighters of various nationalities are clinging to about one square kilometer in the town’s built-up area, as well as to an adjacent camp for civilians, according to the spokesperson.