ISIS Territory Down to 1%

SDF fighters rest in the town of As-Susah in Deir Ezzor on September 13, 2018. AFP
SDF fighters rest in the town of As-Susah in Deir Ezzor on September 13, 2018. AFP
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ISIS Territory Down to 1%

SDF fighters rest in the town of As-Susah in Deir Ezzor on September 13, 2018. AFP
SDF fighters rest in the town of As-Susah in Deir Ezzor on September 13, 2018. AFP

The territory of ISIS terrorist group has shrunk to less than one percent of its original size, the US-led coalition said Thursday, as a final onslaught in eastern Syria loomed.

Kurdish-led forces spearheading the offensive have paused operations but US President Donald Trump predicted Wednesday that a final declaration of victory would come next week.

At its height, territory proclaimed by ISIS in June 2014 straddled swathes of land in Syria and Iraq and was roughly the size of Britain.

British Major General Christopher Ghika, the coalition's deputy commander, described the size of the last ISIS pocket as "now less than one percent of the original caliphate."

The coalition has been training and providing aerial support to the Syrian Democratic Forces, which launched an offensive on the last patch of militant territory in September 2018.

Two months later, they took Hajin, which was the last town of note under ISIS control and left the extremists fighting over a scattering of hamlets in the Euphrates River Valley.

Thousands of suspected ISIS militants have attempted to blend in with civilians fleeing the organization's battered last bastion, including a large number of foreigners.

"They are attempting to escape through intermixing with the innocent women and children attempting to flee the fighting," Ghika said in a statement.

The SDF have set up screening centers to process the droves of haggard people streaming out of ISIS-held territory, often famished and covered in dust.

US, French, British and other forces are also actively looking for wanted ISIS operatives among those fleeing the combat zone with civilians.

After weeks of advancing steadily, the SDF halted their ground assault on ISIS's tiny remaining enclave last week, saying the militants were increasingly using civilians as human shields.

Trump said in December that he had ordered a complete troop withdrawal from Syria, a shock announcement that left the Kurds scrambling for new allies.

Speaking at the State Department on Wednesday, Trump said that US-led troops and their Kurdish allies should formally announce the end of the "caliphate" some time next week.

"Remnants -- that's all they have, remnants -- but remnants can be very dangerous," Trump said.

"Rest assured, we'll do what it takes to defeat every ounce and every last person within the ISIS madness" he said.



Israeli Strikes Kill 44 Palestinians in Gaza, UN Warns of Man-Made Drought

Smoke billows after an Israeli strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 19, 2025. (AFP)
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 19, 2025. (AFP)
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Israeli Strikes Kill 44 Palestinians in Gaza, UN Warns of Man-Made Drought

Smoke billows after an Israeli strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 19, 2025. (AFP)
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on June 19, 2025. (AFP)

Israeli fire killed at least 44 Palestinians in Gaza on Friday, many of whom had been trying to get food, local officials said, while the United Nations' children's agency warned of a looming man-made drought in the enclave as its water systems collapse. 

At least 25 people awaiting aid trucks were killed by Israeli fire south of Netzarim in central Gaza Strip, the Hamas-run local health authority said. 

Asked by Reuters about the incident, the Israel Defense Force said its troops had fired warning shots at suspected gunmen who advanced in a crowd towards them. 

An Israeli aircraft then "struck and eliminated the suspects", it said in a statement, adding that it was aware of others being hurt in the incident and was conducting a review. 

Separately, Gazan medics said at least 19 others were killed in other Israeli military strikes across the enclave, including 12 people in a house in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza Strip, taking Friday's total death toll to at least 44. 

In a statement on Friday, the Hamas group, which says Israel is using hunger as a weapon against the population of Gaza, accused Israel of systematically targeting Palestinians seeking food aid across the enclave. Israel denies this and accuses Hamas of stealing food aid, which the group denies. 

Meanwhile UNICEF, the UN's children's agency, warned in Geneva of drought conditions developing in Gaza. 

"Children will begin to die of thirst ... Just 40% of drinking water production facilities remain functional," UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters. "We are way below emergency standards in terms of drinking water." 

UNICEF also reported a 50% increase in children aged six months to 5 years admitted for treatment of malnutrition from April to May in Gaza, and half a million people going hungry. 

FOOD AID 

Elder, who was recently in Gaza, said he had many testimonials of women and children injured while trying to receive food aid, including a young boy who was wounded by a tank shell and later died of his injuries. 

A lack of public clarity on when the sites - some of which are in combat zones - are open is causing mass casualty events, he added. 

The route near Netzarim has become dangerous since the start of a new US-backed aid distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), witnesses told Reuters, with desperate Gazans heading to a designated area late at night to try and get something from aid supplies due to be handed out after dawn. 

The route has also been used by aid trucks sent by the United Nations and aid groups, and people have also been heading there in the hope of grabbing bags off trucks. 

UNICEF said GHF was "making a desperate situation worse". 

On Thursday, at least 70 people were killed by Israeli gunfire and military strikes, including 12 people who tried to approach a site operated by the GHF in the central Gaza Strip. 

In an email to Reuters, GHF accused Gazan health officials of regularly releasing inaccurate information. It said Palestinians do not access the nearby GHF site via the Netzarim corridor. The statement did not address a question about whether GHF was aware of Thursday's incident. 

The GHF said in a statement on Thursday it had so far distributed nearly three million meals across three of its aid sites without incident. 

The Red Cross told Reuters that the "vast majority" of patients that arrived at its Field Hospital during mass casualty incidents had reported that they were wounded while trying to access aid, at or around aid distribution points. 

Between May 27 and Thursday, the aid group received 1,874 patients wounded by weapons, according to Red Cross figures. 

The Gaza war was triggered when Palestinian Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. 

Israel's subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, while displacing almost the entire population of more than 2 million and causing a hunger crisis.