Despite assurances from US President Donald Trump that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in Syria is no more, the US-led battle to remove the armed group from its last stronghold the county's east has intensified in recent weeks, sources said in joint investigation by Al Jazeera and The Intercept.
Amid heavy fighting between the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and hardened ISIL fighters, scores of civilians and prisoners have been killed in US air raids in the eastern province of Deir Az Zor, according to sources on the ground.
