Topic summary
Battle of Baghuz Fawqani
Syrian Democratic Forces
International Freedom Battalion
CJTF–OIR
Iraq (minor cross-border support)
Syrian Arab Republic (minor defensive skirmishes)
- Wilāyat ash-Shām
Mazlum Kobane(SDF commander in chief)
Jiya Furat(SDF commander for Battle of Baghuz)
Adnan Afrin(SDF commander and spokesman)
Ahmad Abu Khawla(Deir ez-Zor Military Council commander)
Mustafa Manbij(Manbij Revolutionaries Battalion commander)
Abu Ali Bard(Army of Revolutionaries Commander)
Lt Gen Paul LaCamera(Commander of CJTF–OIR)
Colonel Francois-Regis Legrier
(Commander of Task Force Wagram)
(Leader of IS)
Abdul Nasser Qardash
(IS deputy)
Abu Khaled Al-Ansari †
(Senior IS commander)
Syrian Democratic Forces- People's Protection Units (YPG)
Women's Protection Units (YPJ)
Deir ez-Zor Military Council
Manbij Military Council
Manbij Revolutionaries Battalion- Martyr Abdo Dushka Regiment
Army of Revolutionaries
Northern Democratic Brigade
Syriac Military Council (MFS)- International Freedom Battalion
- United States Armed Forces
United States Air Force- United States special operations forces (non-combat role)
- French Armed Forces
French Air Force
French Army- 68e Régiment d'Artillerie d'Afrique
- Special Forces
- British Armed Forces
- Iraqi security forces
- Popular Mobilization Forces (minor cross-border support)
- Syrian Arab Army
- National Defence Forces (minor defensive skirmishes)
15,000–17,000 fighters
Coalition: air support, artillery, and special operations forces (SOF)
- 100 soldiers supporting from Iraq
B-1B heavy bombers
Cougar, Oshkosh L-ATV, and Humvee vehicles - 40 soldiers supporting from Iraq
3 CAESAR self-propelled howitzer guns
Nexter Aravis vehicles - Eurofighter Typhoons and MQ-9 Reaper aircraft
1,300 killed, 5,000+ captured (per SDF)
(12 Feb. & 18 March; per SOHR)
64 civilians killed by airstrikes (18 March; per NYT)
Many Yazidi slaves killed by IS
Italian photographer wounded
The Battle of Baghuz Fawqani was an offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), assisted by Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) coalition airstrikes, artillery, and special forces personnel, that began on 9 February 2019 as part of the Deir ez-Zor campaign of the Syrian Civil War. The battle—which was composed of a series of ground assaults—took place in and around the Syrian town of Al-Baghuz Fawqani in the Middle Euphrates River Valley near the Iraq–Syria border, and was the territorial last stand of the Islamic State (IS) in eastern Syria.
After corralling IS forces into a densely populated cluster of hamlets and a tent city along the riverside within the first week, the SDF realised that a greater-than-anticipated number of civilians, most of whom were relatives of the what were now mostly foreign IS fighters, were still in the enclave. With CJTF-OIR oversight, the SDF took an incremental approach to the battle, launching assaults then pausing to allow surrendering fighters, hostages, and families to evacuate in order to minimize civilian casualties. The "trickle-out" strategy, coupled with stiff resistance by veteran Islamic State jihadists within a small dense area, prolonged the battle into a protracted siege. The SDF officially declared final victory over the IS in Baghuz Fawqani on 23 March, marking the end of IS-controlled territories in Syria.
During the battle, on 18 March, a coalition airstrike killed many people. The incident, of which disclosure was suppressed by the U.S. military, killed up to 80 people, including 64 civilians and 16 IS militants according to The New York Times, who revealed it to the public in November 2021. A US military investigation in May 2022 concluded that the airstrike killed 52 IS fighters and 4 civilians and did not violate the laws of war.