Now to eastern Syria. The final battle against the Islamic State has left a trail of destruction through the region. CGTN's Guy Henderson was there to report from the road that follows ISIL's line of retreat towards Baghouz.

War's terrible cost. These are the towns and villages that were – almost until the end – the Islamic State. There are no more. Ash Shafah is the last stop before Baghouz – its entrance gate ripped up and cast aside in the advance.

GUY HENDERSON ASH SHA'FAH, EASTERN SYRIA "A walk down this street tells the tale of nearly 3 months of fierce fighting by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces to drive Islamic State out of Eastern Syria. There is a staggering level of devastation. Almost every house has been pumelled by heavy artillery. And there are giant craters all along the road, where coalition airstrikes targeted IS positions."

The remnants of battle lies strewn along the roadside. Perhaps retreating fighters fled down these tunnels only to be crushed. Many bodies have been cleared. But the stench of rotting flesh lingers. Written on this empty water tank, an appeal to God and his profit. It made no difference. ISIL brought only death and defeat. The only lives spared scavenge through fragments of a happier past. Here: what was once a travel agency offering visits to Mecca. Next door, an ice-cream shop. And then home after ruined home.

GUY HENDERSON ASH SHA'FAH, EASTERN SYRIA "Some of those who lived here may have fled. Others will surely have been killed in the fighting. Many went – either willingly or taken by force – to Islamic State's final enclave, a few kilometers on."

Those who've escaped can't come back here: many have been detained. And besides, there is nothing left for them. Guy Henderson CGTN, on the road to Baghouz in Eastern Syria.