Cities, towns and territory retaken from Daesh grip

In this image made from video posted online by Qasioun News Agency, members of a Turkish-backed Syrian opposition force patrol in Dabiq, Syria, on Sunday. (AP)

BEIRUT: Turkish-backed Syrian rebels captured the northern town of Dabiq from the Daesh group on Sunday, a monitoring group and rebels said.
Since the group seized swathes of Syria and Iraq in mid-2014, it has been pushed back by armed groups including US-backed Kurdish fighters, Iraqi and Syrian government forces.
By early October 2016, Daesh had lost 16 percent of the territory it held at the start of the year, including crucial supply routes, according to IHS Conflict Monitor.
Here is a recap of key cities, towns and territory Daesh has lost in recent months:

KOBANE: A Kurdish town in northern Syria, Kobani became a symbol of the fight against Daesh. The militants were driven out by US-backed Kurdish forces in January 2015 after more than four months of fierce fighting.

TAL ABYAD: Another town on the Turkish border, Tal Abyad was captured by Kurdish and Arab rebels in June 2015. The town was the gateway to a key supply route between Turkey and Daesh Syrian stronghold, Raqqa. Daesh fighters and weapons regularly passed through the town before its recapture.

PALMYRA: Daesh seized the ancient town of Palmyra in May 2015. It blew up UNESCO-listed Roman-era temples and looted ancient relics. Syrian regime forces backed by Russian warplanes and allied militia ousted them in March this year.

MANBIJ: On August 6, a coalition of Arab and Kurdish fighters backed by US airstrikes recaptured Manbij following a two-month battle. Daesh had seized the town in 2014 and used it as a hub for moving militants to and from Europe. It also controlled a key supply route for the group.

JARABULUS: Turkish troops and Syrian rebels swept almost unopposed into the border town of Jarabulus on August 24 during Operation Euphrates Shield, which also targets Kurdish militia.

SYRIAN/TURKEY BORDER: On September 4, Turkish troops and allied rebel fighters drove Daesh from its last positions along the border, making it harder for foreign militants to reach the group’s Syrian and Iraqi strongholds.

DABIQ: Syrian rebels backed by Turkish warplanes and artillery captured Dabiq on Sunday. The town, under Daesh control since August 2014, has crucial ideological significance for the militants because of a prophecy that Christian and Muslim forces will wage battle there at the end of times.

TIKRIT: The hometown of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein north of Baghdad, it fell to Daesh in June 2014, soon after Mosul. It was declared liberated in March 2015 in an operation by Iraqi troops, police and Shiite-dominated paramilitaries.

SINJAR: Iraqi Kurdish forces backed by US-led coalition air strikes recaptured Sinjar, northwest of Baghdad, in November 2015. That cut a key supply line linking areas held by the jihadists in Iraq and Syria. IS had captured Sinjar in August 2014 and pursued a brutal campaign of massacres, enslavement and rape against its Yazidi minority.

RAMADI: The capital of Anbar, Iraq’s largest province that stretches from the borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the western approach to Baghdad. Ramadi was declared fully recaptured in February, about nine months after Daesh seized it.

FALLUJAH: Anbar province’s second city and an emblematic bastion for Daesh, close to the capital. It fell to anti-government fighters in 2014 and became a key Daesh stronghold. Iraqi forces recaptured it in June this year.

QAYYARAH: Iraqi forces backed by coalition aircraft retook Qayyarah from Daesh in August, providing Baghdad with a platform for its assault on Mosul, Iraq’s second city.

SHARQAT: Iraqi forces announced on September 22 that they had recaptured Sharqat, a town south of Mosul. The town is near key supply lines the army needs for the battle to retake Mosul.