Convoy plucks women, children from IS holdout
BAGHOUZ: A convoy of trucks evacuated dozens of people including women and children from the Islamic State group’s last Syria redoubt yesterday, bringing USbacked forces closer to retaking the last sliver of the “caliphate”. The implosion of the jihadist proto-state which once spanned swathes of Syria and neighboring Iraq has left Western nations grappling with how to handle citizens who left to join IS.
Around 15 trucks carrying men, women and children exited the last patch of IS territory in eastern Syria, according to AFP correspondents. Women wearing face veils, several children-including young veiled girls-as well as men were seen inside the vehicles. Their exact number and nationalities were not immediately clear. The convoy passed a position of the Kurdish-led SDF, which are spearheading the battle against the jihadists, after leaving the last IS holdout in the village of Baghouz, near the Iraqi border.
SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said the trucks were evacuating a first batch of civilians, but some remained inside. “After many days of trying, we were able to evacuate the first batch today,” Bali said. The number of people who quit the holdout would become clear once the convoy arrived at a nearby SDF screening point, he said. “We don’t know if IS fighters are among them, we will know at the screening point,” Bali said. Backed by air strikes by a US-led coalition, the SDF have trapped IS fighters in less than half a square kilometer (0.2 square miles) in Baghouz. The SDF have slowed their advance in recent days to protect civilians ahead of a final push to defeat the jihadists.
Deal?
Thousands of people-mostly women and children related to IS members-have streamed out of Baghouz in the past weeks, but the flow had largely stopped in recent days. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said a deal appeared to have been reached with the jihadists. “There have been negotiations for the surrender of the last IS fighters,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. “There are reports of a deal, but we don’t know the details yet,” he said. On Tuesday, the SDF said several IS fighters and dozens of civilians handed themselves over to the Kurdish-led force. Spokesman Adnan Afrin said a convoy of trucks had entered Baghouz to transfer jihadists and their relatives out to SDF-held territory. The spokesman said foreigners were among those who left the pocket, but did not say where they were from, or if they were civilians. —AFP