Islamic State faces final territorial defeat in eastern Syria battle

By Ellen Francis OUTSKIRTS OF BAGHOUZ, Syria (Reuters) - Islamic State faces final territorial defeat as the U.S.-backed Syrian force battling the jihadists said on Saturday it was closing in on the jihadists' last bastion near the Iraqi border, capping four years of efforts to roll back the group. While the fall of Baghouz, an eastern Syrian village on the bank of the Euphrates River, would mark a milestone in a global campaign against Islamic State (IS), they remain a threat, using guerrilla tactics and holding some desolate land further west. An array of enemies, both local and international, confronted IS after it declared a modern-day "caliphate" in 2014 across large swathes of territory it had seized in lightning offensives in Syria and neighbouring Iraq

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