U.S. rules out negotiated Islamic State withdrawal

BEIRUT — The U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State said Wednesday that it won’t accept a negotiated withdrawal for hundreds of militants holed up in the Syrian city of Raqqa, once the extremists’ de facto capital.

The remarks by coalition spokesman, Col. Ryan Dillon, came as coalition allies were working out ways to safely evacuate an estimated 4,000 civilians who remain trapped in the city.

The coalition has said Islamic State militants are holding some civilians as human shields, preventing them from escaping as the fight enters its final stages. The city, on the banks of the Euphrates River, has been badly damaged by the fighting, and activists have reported that over 1,000 civilians have been killed there since June.

The United Nations estimates 8,000 people are trapped in Raqqa.