BEIRUT — The Islamic State group’s once-sprawling caliphate has been reduced to a remote scrap of land in Syria’s eastern desert, where a few hundred fighters are making a final stand against U.S.-backed forces.
But in liberated areas across Syria and Iraq, sleeper cells are carrying out assassinations, setting up flying checkpoints and distributing fliers as they lay the groundwork for an insurgency that could gain strength as U.S. forces withdraw.
President Donald Trump has vowed to withdraw American forces from Syria, saying the militants are all but defeated.
But his own Defence Department has warned that IS could stage a comeback in Syria within six months to a year if the pressure on it is eased. Activists who closely follow the conflict in Syria already see a growing insurgency.
Sarah El Deeb, The Associated Press
