Doomed jihadists retreat within shrinking Syria bastion

Advancing Kurdish-led forces forced diehard fighters from the Islamic State group out of the main encampment where they had been confined in recent days.The move brought a months-old operation to wipe out the last vestige of IS's once-sprawling proto-state closer to its inevitable outcome but the Syrian Democratic Forces stopped short of declaring the battle over."This is not a victory announcement, but a significant progress in the fight against Daesh," SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said, using an