Syria’s army declared victory over Islamic State on Thursday, saying its capture of the jihadists’ last town in the country marked the collapse of their three-year, hardline reign in the region.
The capture of Albu Kamal, a border town on the Iraqi border and Islamic State’s last stronghold in Syria, sealed “the fall of the terrorist Daesh organization’s project in the region”, an army statement said on Thursday, using an Arabic term for Islamic State.
An audio message purported to be from Baghdadi was released in September. Baghdadi declared himself caliph and heir to Islam’s historic leaders from the great medieval mosque in Iraq’s Mosul in 2014.
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