Iraq-Syria border set for last major assault on Daesh

The "final large fight" in Iraq against Daesh group will take place on the border with Syria, the Daily Mail quoted a general in a US-led coalition against the terrorists as saying Saturday.

He spoke two days after Iraqi forces recaptured the northern town of Hawija, the centre of one of the terrorist group's two remaining enclaves in Iraq.

"The next fight and the final large fight will be in the Middle Euphrates River Valley... on the Iraqi-Syrian border," Brigadier General Robert Sofge, the coalition's Deputy Commanding General, said.

"All campaigns will aim in that direction, and it is going to happen sooner rather than later."

Daesh seized vast areas of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

Sofge said some 2,000 Daesh fighters were still in the area.

Sofge said the terrorist group was shifting from a military mindset to that of an insurgent group with "sleeper cells" able to launch surprise attacks.

"The challenge for the years ahead is police work in Iraq and Syria," he said.

"IS (Daesh) fighters who are not killed or captured are trying to fade back into the fabric of the society."

Source: MENA