Civilians leaving IS-held enclave
Area is last bit of territory held by militants in eastern Syria
BAGHOUZ, Syria — A convoy of trucks carrying hundreds of men, women and children left the last enclave held by Islamic State militants in eastern Syria on Wednesday, signaling a possible end to a standoff that has lasted for more than a week.
The tiny enclave on the banks of the Euphrates River is the final scrap of territory left to the extremist group that only a few years ago controlled a vast stretch of territory across Syria and Iraq — at one point nearly from Aleppo to Baghdad — aspiring to create an enduring and expanding jihadi state. Its recapture by U.S.-backed Syrian fighters would spell the territorial defeat of IS and allow President Donald Trump to begin withdrawing American troops from northern Syria, as he has pledged to do, opening a new chapter in Syria’s eightyear civil war.
Few believe, however, that ending the group’s territorial rule will end the threat posed by an organization that still stages and inspires attacks through sleeper cells in both Syria and Iraq.
Some 300 IS militants — many of them foreign fighters — are believed to be holed up in the enclave in the remote village of Baghouz, along with several hundred civilians believed to be mostly family members.
The presence of many civilians intermingled with the militants in a crammed space halted the military offensive by the U.S.-backed militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces and led to a dayslong standoff with the militants. SDF officials say the militants have refused to surrender and had, at least initially, prevented the civilians from leaving.
It was not immediately clear what enabled the evacuation Wednesday. But Mustafa Bali, spokesman for the SDF, said an operation by special forces enabled the evacuation. He didn’t elaborate.
Fighters have said food supplies and ammunition for the besieged militants have been fast diminishing.