US president Donald Trump says the last of the Islamic State's territory in Syria will be freed by U.S.-backed forces 'by tonight.'
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Trump spoke as he left the White House and displayed maps of IS-held territory in Iraq and Syria on the day he was elected and as of Wednesday morning.
The most recent map shows what Trump says is a 'tiny spot which will be gone by tonight.' He says when he was elected, Syria was 'a mess' and awash in IS fighters.
U.S.-backed fighters battling to retake the last IS outpost in eastern Syria seized most of the last pocket of land on Tuesday.
Trump has previously announced the defeat of the group, but sleeper cells of fighters remain in Syria.
Trump says the U.S. will keep 400 troops in Syria indefinitely.
Fighters in Syria were scouring the last few hundred square yards of ISIS territory for landmines, secret tunnels and any hiding jihadists after pushing the terror group into their last sliver of land.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the U.S., are clearing areas they captured yesterday as they reduced the ISIS 'caliphate' to a tiny patch of bombed-out scrapyard in eastern Syria.
An official with the fighters said there was calm and no clashes today as Syrian forces were seen singing, dancing and giving V-for-victory signs to celebrate 'victory' in Baghouz.
In one video released by Syrian forces a group of fighters are seen jigging in rhythm in the desert as they mark the 'end of the ISIS caliphate'.
SDF soldiers were today women and children into trailer trucks on the hilltop over Baghouz, in a sign evacuations were ongoing today, while black smoke could be seen rising from the village.
The last diehard ISIS fighters continued clashing with the SDF on Tuesday night but the terror group is on the brink of defeat after holding a third of Syria and Iraq in 2014.
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