60 000 civilians flee last IS stronghold

THE US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said yesterday that over 60 000 people, mostly civilians, had flooded out of Islamic State’s last enclave in eastern Syria since a final assault to capture it began two months ago.

SDF spokesperson Kino Gabriel said 29 600 people, mostly families of fighters of the militant group, had surrendered since the US-backed forces led by the Kurdish YPG laid siege to the town of Baghouz and its hinterland on the Euphrates River.

Among them were 5 000 militants, the SDF said. Another 34000 civilians were evacuated from Baghouz, the last territory held by the jihadists, who have been driven from roughly one third of Iraq and Syria over the past four years, Gabriel said.

Former residents from the region say many of the civilians who came out of the Baghouz area in recent weeks were Iraqi Sunnis with close tribal ties on the other side of the border in Deir al-Zor, a Sunni heartland.

They sought sanctuary in Syria for fear of revenge attacks by the Iraqi Hashd al-Shaabi, the Iranian-backed Shia militias in Iraq who swept through their areas when militants lost control.

Another SDF spokesperson, Mustafa Bali, said only around 100 militants and their families had surrendered overnight in the remaining spot where hardline insurgents have been mounting a desperate last-stand defence.

“We had expected the surrender of a large number of terrorists and their families but only a small group came out,” Bali said.

A witness spotted US-led coalition jets flying overhead but there was no renewed bombing raid in a lull in fighting as the SDF expected more fighters and their families to surrender.

The group said 1 306 “terrorists” had been killed, alongside many who were injured in the military campaign that began on January 9, while 82 SDF fighters had been killed and 61 injured.

The SDF said another 520 militants were captured during special operations conducted in the last militant bastion that comprises a group of villages surrounded by farmland where IS fighters and followers retreated. | Reuters