RAQQA, Syria — Operating from northern Syria, the United States has focused its Syria policy on the war on the Islamic State (IS) and the containment of Iran. Yet, the self-declared Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, led by the US-backed, Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Council, is only as strong as its weakest link, namely the Arab regions of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, which are still plagued by security incidents and a peripheral war with the self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate.

The battle overseen by the US-led coalition and Kurdish-dominated forces against IS in Hajin appears to be coming to a close after four months of fighting that began in September. According to the coalition, an estimated 2,000 IS fighters who remained in control of territory were cornered on a small swath of land between Hajin, in Deir ez-Zor, and the Iraqi border, an area amounting to less than 1% of the ground the group had previously held in Syria and Iraq. On Dec. 14, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that IS’ last significant toehold, the town of Hajin, had been captured by the US-backed forces. IS elements remain in control of some small villages in the area.

Daham al-Monadi al-Khalil, a lawyer, told Al-Monitor that IS is down to relying on a number of dormant cells in various villages and towns in Deir ez-Zor. Despite having been decimated, IS has nonetheless proved itself capable of waging counterattacks in the area, even with the US-led coalition providing air cover for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The last week in November, IS militants killed at least 50 SDF fighters in Deir ez-Zor in an operation considered to be one of the deadliest the beleaguered organization has recently launched. 

The battle against the terror organization has faced a number of challenges, for instance, when it was paused at the end of October while Turkey bombed Kobani and Tell Abyad, forcing SDF fighters to abandon frontlines with IS toward the north.