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IS jihadists fight from Syrian desert after losing last stronghold

The Assad regime says the liberation of Albu Kamal "signals the general fall" of Islamic State's mission to establish a caliphate.

Iraqi forces celebrate victory in Qaim, on the other side of the Syrian border from Albu Kamal.
Image: Iraqi forces celebrate victory on the other side of the Syrian border from Albu Kamal
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The Syrian army has said it is continuing to fight Islamic State in pockets of territory in the desert, hours after the group withdrew from its last stronghold.

The regime of Bashar al Assad said the fall of Albu Kamal effectively marks the end of the militants' "project" to establish and operate a self-declared independent nation.

"The liberation of Albu Kamal city is very important because it signals the general fall of the terrorist Daesh organisation's project in the region," a statement from Syria's general command said.

It added that troops are now fighting the last remaining IS fighters in the Syria's eastern desert.

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US officials believed there were between 2,500 and 3,500 IS militants around Albu Kamal, including leading members of the group.

It comes as police detained more than 100 suspected Islamic State group militants in a sweep in the capital, Ankara, according to state-run media.

There are fears that many of the surviving members of IS may have slipped across the Syrian and Iraqi borders in an attempt to flee.

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About 1,500 officers from Turkish police anti-terror and intelligence units took part in early morning raids on about 250 addresses, the Anadolu news agency reported.

It added that authorities have arrest warrants for 144 other IS suspects, some of whom are members of a local group that supports fighters in Iraq and Syria.

CNNTurk said police in the northwestern city of Bursa are also holding 27 suspects, including some Syrians, over alleged links to Islamic State.

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Iraqi forces seized Qaim, the town controlling a strategic crossing between Iraq and Syria on the other side of the border from Albu Kamal, last week.

It left Albu Kamal as the last urban centre in the hands of IS in Syria and Iraq after the fall of last week and in October.

IS remains in the Iraqi village of Rawa and holds a significant amount of territory in Libya and some isolated pockets elsewhere.

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A US-backed coalition, of which the UK is a part, has supported a campaign against IS in Syria by Kurdish and Arab militias.

There are concerns that the defeat of IS will lead to Syrian forces and their allies, and Iraqi forces, turning their attention to territory seized by US coalition-backed Kurds.

On Thursday morning, Iraq's central bank ordered private banks to close their branches in the Kurdistan region within a week to avoid a ban on dollar sales.

Meanwhile, a top adviser to President Assad said Syria would not give on Kurd-occupied Raqqa and regards US and Turkish troops as "illegal invader" forces which it would "deal with".