Iraq News Now

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Following a week-long lull to allow civilians and Islamic State (ISIS) extremists to surrender to Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in al-Baghouz, the fighters backed by the US-led international coalition will restart their operation on Saturday.

“We are waiting for tomorrow morning or perhaps until the afternoon, we’ll give another space, for the possibility that civilians are present and the chance to get them out,” head of the SDF media office Mustafa Bali told Reuters on Friday. 

While there have been airstrikes and sporadic clashes with ISIS on several axes in the Baghouz area over the past week, the SDF have delayed the completion of their operation to allow surrenders and to besiege the ISIS bastion. 

“If no civilian or terrorist comes out, we will launch our military operation anew," Bali added.

Baghouz is the last significant ISIS-held town east of the Euphrates and is near the border with Iraq.

ISIS "tunnels and trenches" have also slowed SDF progress, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

It reported on Friday that within the past 24 hours 1,050 people have exited the ISIS holdout, including 90 fighters.

On the 5th of March and in a special operation , the SDF special forces had captured 400 ISIS terrorists who tried to escape from Baghuz . pic.twitter.com/HQ1DsmSiMv

— Mustafa Bali (@mustefabali) March 8, 2019

Bali tweeted on Saturday that SDF "special forces" captured 400 ISIS fighters trying to flee on Tuesday.

The coalition's Operation Roundup began on May 1, 2018, with the aim to clear ISIS from the Middle Euphrates River Valley.

Senior US military and defense officials have repeatedly described the area as the group's last significant holdout.