Combat· Anti-ISIS Campaign (Op INHERENT RESOLVE)
Baghouz
Baghouz was the site of the final battle against the Islamic State's territorial caliphate, the last patch of ground the militants held along the Euphrates in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border.
The ground assault was carried out by the Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by coalition artillery, close air support, and special operations forces, against up to a thousand of the group's most committed fighters making their last stand amid a mass of fighters and civilians. The Marine role, consistent with the campaign throughout, was supporting fires and enablers rather than direct ground assault, contributing to the coalition support that helped the partnered force reduce the final pocket. The fall of Baghouz marked the end of the caliphate as a territorial entity, the elimination of the last sliver of the ground the Islamic State had once ruled across a wide swath of Iraq and Syria. It closed the territorial chapter of the war against the group.
Record no. 777