SDF to continue fight to eliminate jihadist sleeper cells from Syria

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said it would continue its military and security campaigns against jihadist sleeper cells. Earlier in the day, US-backed forces in Syria they have liberated the last area held by the Islamic State in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz, declaring victory over the extremist group and the end of its self-declared Islamic caliphate.

Elimination of the last IS stronghold in Baghouz marks the end of the militants' self-declared caliphate, which at its height blanketed large parts of Syria and Iraq. The campaign to take back the territory by the US and its partners has spanned five years and two U.S. presidencies unleashed more than 100,000 bombs and killed untold numbers of fighters and civilians.

At a televised ceremony, its general command called on the Syrian government, which has sworn to retake the whole country, to recognise the autonomous administration that runs areas the SDF controls in northeast Syria.

It also called on Turkey, which regards the SDF as a terrorist organisation and has staged incursions into Syria against it, to leave Syrian territory, especially the mostly Kurdish region of Afrin.