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Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/23/middleeast/isis-caliphate-end-intl/index.html
ISIS Has Lost Its Final Stronghold in Syria
(CNN) Ben Wedeman - ISIS has lost its final stronghold in Baghouz in eastern Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced Saturday, bringing an end to the caliphate established in 2014. The SDF is a coalition of Kurdish and Arab soldiers backed by U.S., British and French special forces. The SDF said it had lost 11,000 "forces, leaders and fighters" battling ISIS and vowed to continue the fight against any sleeper cells. Lina Khatib, the head of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House in the UK, told CNN, "The group itself has not been eradicated. The ideology of ISIS is still very much at large," with 20,000-30,000 ISIS members estimated to remain in Iraq and Syria.