The Syrian village of Dabiq was conquered by Turkish-backed rebels after intensive battles with the Islamic State.
The announcement came during a joint-press-conference of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his United Arab Emirates Counterpart Al Nahyyan. “Rebels are in full control of Dabiq now. Daesh controls the villages surrounding that region but the Free Syrian Army is advancing in that area and of course the target is to advance to Al-Bab and fully liberate Manbij,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced.
The captured village of Dabiq is highly significant, as the extreme Muslim group had promised to fight there a final, apocalyptic battle against the West. Its defeat at Dabiq, for a long time a stronghold of the Islamic State’s propaganda, underscores the group’s declining fortunes this year, as it suffered battlefield defeats in Syria and Iraq and lost a string of senior leaders in targeted air strikes.