Key Facts
- Start date
- 9 February 2019
- End date
- 23 March 2019
- Duration
- Approximately 6 weeks
- Contested airstrike casualties
- 52 IS fighters and 4 civilians (U.S. military); up to 80 total per NYT
- Location
- Middle Euphrates River Valley, near Iraq–Syria border
Strategic Narrative Overview
The SDF began ground assaults on 9 February 2019, quickly containing IS forces into a densely populated enclave of hamlets and a tent city. Discovering far more civilians than anticipated—relatives of IS fighters—the SDF adopted a deliberate incremental strategy: launching assaults, then pausing to allow evacuations. Stiff resistance from veteran jihadists inside the confined area turned the operation into a prolonged siege lasting over six weeks. A coalition airstrike on 18 March struck the enclave and killed dozens.
01 / The Origins
By late 2018, the Islamic State had lost nearly all of its self-proclaimed caliphate across Iraq and Syria. The Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by the U.S.-led CJTF-OIR coalition, launched a campaign in the Deir ez-Zor region to eliminate the last remaining IS-held pocket. IS fighters, many of them foreign nationals accompanied by family members, were compressed into the riverside hamlet of Al-Baghuz Fawqani along the Iraq–Syria border.
03 / The Outcome
The SDF declared victory on 23 March 2019, marking the end of all IS-controlled territory in Syria. A controversial coalition airstrike on 18 March killed an estimated 52 IS fighters and 4 civilians according to a May 2022 U.S. military investigation, though The New York Times reported up to 80 deaths including 64 civilians. Disclosure of the strike was suppressed by the U.S. military and only made public in November 2021.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
2 belligerents
Side B
1 belligerent
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.