Trump says expects announcement soon on recapturing Islamic State territory

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he expected a formal announcement as early as next week that the coalition fighting Islamic State rebels has reclaimed all of the territory previously held by the extremist group. "The United States military, our coalition partners and the Syrian Democratic Forces have liberated virtually all of the territory previously held by ISIS in Syria and Iraq," Trump told a meeting in Washington of officials from the Coalition to Defeat ISIS.

"It should be formally announced, sometime, probably next week, that we will have 100 percent of the caliphate, but I want to wait for the official word. I don't want to say it too early," Trump told the gathering at the U.S. State Department. (Reporting by David Alexander)

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