The End Of ISIS In Syria?

Last Thursday, November 9th, the Syrian government declared the end of ISIS as a "territorial presence". The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have been "pronounced dead" by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), with the final victory in the town of Abu Kamal, near the Syrian-Iraqi border in Deir Ezzor province. This is the most recent defeat of the Islamic State in the region, with the Raqqa campaign (2016–2017) concluding two weeks earlier.

The "Great Battle" of Raqqa was the fifth and final phase of the campaign launched by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Defense Force (SDF) with the primary goal of seizing the city of Raqqa from The Islamic State (ISIL). The battle concluded on 17 October 2017, with the full capture of the city. 

The Battle of Mosul started seven months earlier in Iraq, in coordination with the Raqqa campaign, and led by the US-led international coalition and their regional allied groups. The campaign was designed to strip the Islamic State of its regional centers of power and to dismantle it as an organization controlling territory.

Even with these positive developments, regional control of Syria and Iraq will continue down the road toward destabilization. With varying big business and geographical interests looking to control the resources, the "Great Undeclared War" of the middle east will continue for the foreseeable future.