Trump Says Islamic State About to Lose Its Last Hold on Syrian Land by Nancy A. Youssef – Wall Street Journal
President Trump said the Islamic State extremist group would suffer its final territorial defeat by Wednesday evening, even as U.S.-backed fighters in Syria were still completing the battle against the militants.
Speaking to reporters before traveling to Ohio, Mr. Trump held up an image of two maps, one depicting how much territory was under Islamic State control on Election Day in 2016, and the second showing the small area that remained as of Wednesday.
Pointing to the second map, Mr. Trump said: “In fact, there’s actually a tiny spot that will be gone tonight.”
Mr. Trump’s assertion wasn’t confirmed by Pentagon officials, who said that while Islamic State’s defeat was imminent, the formal end of the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate likely is days away, not hours…