ISIS’s self-proclaimed Caliphate in Syria and Iraq came to an end on March 23, 2019, when the Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the U.S.-led international coalition, liberated the town of Baghouz after a tough six week battle.
In some respects however, the military victory against ISIS was the easy part. The challenge now is to stabilize war-torn societies and help them to recover from what has been a costly and destructive conflict.
Note: This briefing is an update to “Where is ISIS today?” published in June 2018.
