ISIS has been reduced to a few border towns in Syria and Iraq as Dier ez Zor falls.

Shiite militias in Iraq fire a cannon at ISIS forces in al-Qaim. Reuters. 

ISIS has been reduced to a few border towns in Syria and Iraq as Dier ez Zor falls and Iraqi forces enter al-Qaim. Reuters. The terror group used to control a third of both Iraq and Syria but have been reduced to a few pockets of resistance. Their last major holding, the Syrian city of Dier ez Zor was liberated by the Syrian government. In Iraq, ISIS lost the last border post with Syria and Iraqi forces have entered the al-Qaim, the only major site in Iraq with a large ISIS presence. It is believed that ISIS only have a few thousand fighters left, most of which are in the al-Qaim/Albu Kamal border area. US forces in the area will attempt to keep those fighters there so they can be destroyed. The final battle will begin soon.

My Comment:

Despite the claim in the article, ISIS still does control a few places outside of the al-Qaim/Albu Kamal border area. Most notably the Iraqi town of Rawa is still under ISIS control, though it is quickly being cut off. There are also some small villages on the Euphrates that they still control. 

Still, it's hard to argue that ISIS has much left in the tank at this point. Dier Ez Zor was the last major city that they had even partial control of. They were never able to conquer it, even though they came close several times.  With the Syrian government taking it back they have lost almost everything. 

I've mentioned this before but these ISIS fighters are doomed. There is literally nowhere to run to except the desert. And survival there will be extremely difficult. It's not like there is a real route out of Iraq or Syria. Anywhere they could escape to is very far away and is controlled by enemy factions. They have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. 

I wonder how many ISIS fighters will surrender. Many of them will fight to the death, if for no other reason that they have no home to go back to. The foreign fighters might not be let back into their countries and may prefer to die on the battlefield instead of facing the humiliation of trying. Others may give up, especially the local fighters that may have a chance of seeing home again someday. I'm guessing the fighters that are left are the most dedicated and committed ones, the ones that would consider fleeing or surrendering probably would have done so before now. 

As always, defeating ISIS on their last battlefields will not be the end of the group. Far from it. They will no longer be a state anymore, but they will continue to exist. We can look to Libya as an example of this. ISIS was defeated in Libya about a year ago when they lost their capital city there, Sirte. They did not go away though and have spent quite a bit of time regrouping as a terrorist organization. Sadly, such a fate is predictable for both Iraq and Syria. ISIS will step down, but they won't step out. They will remain a player in the Middle East for quite some time. 

Still, defeating ISIS in both Iraq and Syria is a huge accomplishment for basically everyone in the region. ISIS was a threat to almost everyone who lived there or even had an interest there. Even though the wars there were brutal and there was never an agreement that everyone should fight the greater danger, we at least were able to take out the biggest threat. Everyone involved deserves a bit of credit for that.