The US-backed <i id="mwAVU">Syrian Democratic Forces</i> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baghuz_Fawqani" id="mwAVY" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Battle of Baghuz Fawqani">capture</a> the town of <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghuz" id="mwAVc" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Baghuz">Baghuz</a> in Eastern Syria, declaring military victory over the <a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant" id="mwAVg" rel="mw:WikiLink" title="Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant">Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant</a> after four years of fighting, although the group maintains a scattered presence and sleeper cells across Syria and Iraq.<sup about="#mwt50" class="mw-ref reference" data-mw='{"name":"ref","attrs":{},"body":{"id":"mw-reference-text-cite_note-8"}}' id="cite_ref-8" rel="dc:references" typeof="mw:Extension/ref"><a href="./March_23#cite_note-8" id="mwAVk" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 8;"><span class="mw-reflink-text" id="mwAVo">[8]</span></a></sup>
<span class="mw-reference-text" id="mw-reference-text-cite_note-8"><cite about="#mwt47" class="citation web cs1" id="mwB50"><a class="external text" href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/isil-defeated-syria-sdf-announces-final-victory-190323061233685.html" id="mwB54" rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow">"ISIL defeated in final Syria victory: SDF"</a>. Al Jazeera. March 23, 2019<span class="reference-accessdate" id="mwB58">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap" id="mwB6A">March 23,</span> 2019</span>.</cite><span about="#mwt47" class="Z3988" id="mwB6E" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=unknown&amp;rft.btitle=ISIL+defeated+in+final+Syria+victory%3A+SDF&amp;rft.pub=Al+Jazeera&amp;rft.date=2019-03-23&amp;rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2019%2F03%2Fisil-defeated-syria-sdf-announces-final-victory-190323061233685.html&amp;rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AMarch+23"></span></span>