Fighters and families with the Islamic State terror group are clinging to one last sliver of land next to the Euphrates River in Syria, using women, children and possible hostages as human shields in an effort to postpone defeat.
Human rights observers and officials with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces say IS followers have been pushed out of the eastern Syrian village of Baghuz and taken refuge in what they describe as a collection of tents. Various officials have described the size of the camps as covering less than one square kilometer.
But efforts by the SDF to deal a final defeat to the terror group's self-declared caliphate have been slowed due to the presence of the civilians, and efforts to negotiate a surrender have also gone nowhere.
President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House, Feb. 15, 2019. VOA
Speaking at the White House on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said, "We have a lot of great announcements having to do with Syria and our success with the eradication of the caliphate and that'll be announced over the next 24 hours and many other things."
In Munich, the top U.S. defense official offered a cautious assessment.
"We have eliminated the group's hold on over 99 percent of the territory it once claimed as part of its so-called caliphate," acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan said during a Friday news conference with his German counterpart at the Munich Security Conference.
"We have ensured ISIS no longer holds the innocent people of Syria or Iraq in their murderous, iron fist," he said, using an acronym for the terror group. "We have destroyed its ability to mass forces, and we have eliminated most of its leadership and significantly diminished its resources."