March 2019. After almost five years, the battle to dismantle Islamic State’s brutal “caliphate” has ended with an announcement from US-backed forces that the militants have been driven out of their last stronghold of Baghuz. ISIS had held out for months against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the small oasis town on the Euphrates river, clinging on to an area of land less than 700 sq metres wide despite fierce coalition bombing. But on Saturday an SDF spokesperson, Mustafa Bali, tweeted that the town had been Liberated. “On this unique day we commemorate thousands of Martyrs whose efforts made the victory possible,” he wrote. The End of daesh sounds Good. We All need to Work Hard at making sure Extremism like this doesn’t raise its ugly head again.