The dream is very nearly over. The Islamic State’s dream of reestablishing the caliphate died relatively quickly. It declared its caliphate on June 29, 2014, and four and a half years later, its aspirations of establishing a vast Islamic empire have come to naught, although that is not to say that the Islamic State is no longer a threat. It very much is, with jihadis all over the West, as well as in the Philippines, Libya, Nigeria, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.
No one expected the Islamic State caliphate to die so quickly. During the Obama presidency, it controlled a territory larger than Great Britain, and looked as if it was here to stay. If Hillary Clinton had been elected President, it is certain that it would still be there, and would be on its way to legitimacy, following the trail blazed by the Palestine Liberation Organization. But she wasn’t, and it isn’t.
Get the full story of the Islamic State, and what it is still capable of doing, in The Complete Infidel’s Guide to ISIS.
Get the full history of the Islamic caliphates, including that of the Islamic State, and their never-ending war against non-Muslim nations, in The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS.
“Syrian Kurdish-led fighters take Hajin, last town held by ISIS,” by Bassem Mroue, Associated Press, December 14, 2018:
BEIRUT — U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led fighters captured the last town held by the Islamic State group on Friday, after three months of ferocious battles in the militants’ single remaining enclave in eastern Syria, activists and Kurdish officials said.
The fall of Hajin marks an end to the extremist group’s hold over any significant urban area, which in three years shrunk from large swaths of Iraq and Syria the militants once held to this small enclave near the two countries’ shared borders.
The capture of Hajin, however, does not mark the end of the group which still holds some villages nearby and has a scattered presence and sleeper cells in both countries.
As the offensive by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces intensified over the past days under the cover of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition, ISIS fighters withdrew south to areas east of the Euphrates river and west of SDF positions along the border with Iraq. Among the villages still held by extremists in the enclave are Sousa, Buqaan, Shaafah, Baghouz and Shajla.
The latest push has also raised questions about the fate of ISIS leader and founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who has not been seen in public since he announced his self-styled caliphate in 2014 from a mosque’s pulpit in the Iraqi city of Mosul. Last month, ISIS suffered a severe blow when the SDF said it captured Osama Owayed al-Saleh, a top aide to al-Baghdadi.
“It is a very difficult battle,” SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali told The Associated Press by phone from Syria where he said ISIS fighters are still attacking Hajin. He added that most of ISIS fighters besieged in the enclave are among the most experienced gunmen who came to the area from Iraq and Syria.
“There are still villages to be taken but Hajin was the most important as it was the base for commanders from where they directed military operations,” Bali said….
Europe-based activist Omar Abu Layla of the DeirEzzor 24 monitoring group confirmed that the town had been recaptured, adding that some ISIS fighters are still holed up in small pockets on the edge of Hajin.
Abu Layla said that disagreements among ISIS ranks over hierarchy between Iraqi and Syrian fighters helped “speed up the collapse” of the extremist group’s defenses in Hajin.
Nuri Mehmud, spokesman of the Syrian Kurdish militia known as People’s Protection Units, or YPG, also the main component of the SDF, said “intense fighting” is still ongoing in small parts of Hajin.
The area is home to some 15,000 people, including 2,000 ISIS gunmen who fought back with counteroffensives and suicide attacks. Over the past days, hundreds of civilians were able to flee the enclave toward areas controlled by the SDF east of the Euphrates River and government-controlled regions on the river’s west bank….