Government response

Foreign Secretary statement on the fall of Daesh

A statement from Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt to announce that the final Daesh territory has now been liberated.

• From: Foreign & Commonwealth Office and The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP
• Published: 23 March 2019

This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government

A female fighter of the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) flashes the victory gesture while celebrating near the Omar oil field in the eastern Syrian Deir Ezzor province on March 23, 2019. Credit: DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images

Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt said:

This is an historic moment. Daesh once imposed their rule of terror on an area the size of the United Kingdom. Now the last territory held by Daesh in Syria has been liberated.

We pay tribute to the extraordinary courage of the global military Coalition, including British forces, that made this possible.

But we cannot be complacent. Even without territory, Daesh and its poisonous ideology will continue to pose a threat to the people of Iraq and Syria, as well as to the wider world. The international community must remain firm in its determination to counter and defeat it.

Published 23 March 2019