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AFP
Baghouz, Syria
Kurdish-led forces supported by air strikes from an international coalition evacuated civilians held as “human shields” Monday after smashing their way into the militants’ last scrap of territory in eastern Syria.
The Syrian Democratic Forces and its allies from the US-led coalition unleashed a deluge of fire on the village of Baghouz at the weekend to break the defences of Islamic State group fighters in the final sliver of their “caliphate”.
But the Kurdish-led force said their offensive had been slowed down Monday due to remaining civilians inside the pocket, and an SDF spokeswoman said hundreds had been evacuated out of the crumbling bastion in the past 48 hours.
“More than 800 people exited Baghouz from yesterday until today–IS family members and fighters who surrendered,” she said.
Through binoculars from an SDF position outside the militant holdout, a correspondent saw men kneeling on the ground before boarding trucks, as well as women clad in black and children.
The push on IS’s last pocket of territory had resumed Friday after days of mass evacuations, but SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said Monday the operation was being hampered by the presence of more civilians in the besieged enclave. “We’re slowing down the offensive in Baghouz due to a small number of civilians held as human shields,” he said.
Two SDF flags floated in the wind on a hill seized from the militants.
Three air strikes hit the village of Baghouz earlier in the day, causing a huge cloud of grey and black smoke to billow up into the sky.
A reporter at the Omar oil field, one of the main staging areas for the assault, earlier in the day saw empty trucks heading towards the front line likely to ferry out more rescued civilians.
Baghouz, Syria
Kurdish-led forces supported by air strikes from an international coalition evacuated civilians held as “human shields” Monday after smashing their way into the militants’ last scrap of territory in eastern Syria.
The Syrian Democratic Forces and its allies from the US-led coalition unleashed a deluge of fire on the village of Baghouz at the weekend to break the defences of Islamic State group fighters in the final sliver of their “caliphate”.
But the Kurdish-led force said their offensive had been slowed down Monday due to remaining civilians inside the pocket, and an SDF spokeswoman said hundreds had been evacuated out of the crumbling bastion in the past 48 hours.
“More than 800 people exited Baghouz from yesterday until today–IS family members and fighters who surrendered,” she said.
Through binoculars from an SDF position outside the militant holdout, a correspondent saw men kneeling on the ground before boarding trucks, as well as women clad in black and children.
The push on IS’s last pocket of territory had resumed Friday after days of mass evacuations, but SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said Monday the operation was being hampered by the presence of more civilians in the besieged enclave. “We’re slowing down the offensive in Baghouz due to a small number of civilians held as human shields,” he said.
Two SDF flags floated in the wind on a hill seized from the militants.
Three air strikes hit the village of Baghouz earlier in the day, causing a huge cloud of grey and black smoke to billow up into the sky.
A reporter at the Omar oil field, one of the main staging areas for the assault, earlier in the day saw empty trucks heading towards the front line likely to ferry out more rescued civilians.
