Pentagon, Trump Cheer Liberation of 'Loser' Islamic State Lands
The final swath of territory once held by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been liberated, the Pentagon said, hours after a largely Kurdish fighting force in Syria claimed victory.
Saturday’s statement by acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan followed one by President Donald Trump. Unlike the president, who’s said for months that victory had been achieved, it was the first time the U.S. military has proclaimed that the terrorist group no longer holds land it called its “caliphate.”
“We are inspired by the battlefield success of the Syrian Democratic Forces,” Shanahan said in the statement. “Today’s SDF announcement that the liberation of the territory once held by ISIS in Iraq and Syria is 100 percent complete confirms that more than 20,000 square miles in Iraq and Syria have been cleared of ISIS since January 2017, and the terror group no longer controls populated areas.”
Trump predicted in a statement released by the White House that Islamic State “cowards” would resurface from time to time,
adding that “they are losers and will always be losers.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-23/islamic-state-s-last-syria-bastion-falls-to-u-s-backed-forces?srnd=politics-vp
