DAMASCUS, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured the last Islamic State (IS)-held pocket in eastern Syria, a war monitor reported on Saturday.
The Kurdish-led SDF succeeded in capturing the town of Baghouz, which was the last IS-held area in the eastern Euphrates River region in eastern Deir al-Zour province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
A day earlier, the Britain-based watchdog group said that the U.S.-led coalition was close to declaring elimination of IS in the eastern Euphrates.
The observatory said that around 200 IS militants surrendered to the SDF as part of an undeclared deal in the eastern Euphrates.
Now, the IS controls over 4,000 sq km in the Syrian desert.
The SDF, backed by the U.S. forces, has been on a crushing offensive to defeat IS in the eastern Euphrates since last September.
