Syria: Over 500 people of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters have surrendered and evacuated the last area held by the extremists, said an official with the US-backed force fighting ISIS in eastern Syria.
ISIS fighters near the Iraqi border have been giving up in large numbers after a brutal attack on their enclave on Saturday and Sunday, though it is unclear how many more remain inside.
A senior commander for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) also said that “There are a large number of fighters who are inside and do not want to surrender.”
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia has slowed its attack to allow thousands of civilians to leave Baghouz. The SDF said about 6,500 people had left the area over the previous two days, including hundreds of men.
Earlier a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, tweeted that the battle to retake ISIS-held Baghouz “is going to be over soon”. A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said there were preparations in eastern Syria to announce the end of ISIS there.
ISIL/ISIS gained global prominence in early 2014 when it drove Iraqi government forces out of key cities in its Western Iraq offensive, followed by its capture of Mosul and the Sinjar massacre.
The group has been designated a terrorist organisation by the United Nations and many individual countries. It is widely known for its videos of beheadings and other types of executions.
[source_with_link url=”https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/hundreds-isil-fighters-surrender-syria-baghouz-sdf-190306160315079.html”]Al Jazeera[/source_with_link]