Syrian Kurdish-led SDF fighters near Tabqa, Syria, April 30, 2017. Photo: AP
DEIR AL-ZOR PROVINCE, Syria,— The U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia said on Thursday it had freed 24 of its fighters from Islamic State militants in the jihadists’ last enclave near the Iraqi border.
The SDF provided no details about how its fighters were recovered, and it was not immediately clear if others remained under Islamic State control in the enclave at Baghouz.
The force, the main partner of the U.S.-led coalition against the jihadist group in Syria, has been trying to evacuate thousands of civilians in Baghouz before storming it or forcing the surrender of the remaining jihadists, who the SDF has said are mostly foreigners.
Part of Baghouz, a tiny cluster of hamlets and farmland on the banks of the Euphrates River, is all that remains of Islamic State’s territorial foothold that once straddled the two countries.
Thousands of people of many nationalities have streamed out of the final shred of land in recent weeks, an exodus of both its supporters and victims, surpassing initial estimates and delaying an end to the battle.
The varied backgrounds of those who have came out attests to the way Islamic State drew in people from across the world, and swept up Syrians and Iraqis in its rule. The group has been adapting for some time and has mounted a spate of guerrilla-style attacks in Syria of late.
Washington has for years supported the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria, as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). But U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly announced the pullout from Syria.
The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party PYD and its powerful military wing YPG/YPJ, considered the most effective fighting force against IS in Syria and U.S. has provided them with arms. The YPG, which is the backbone of the SDF forces, has seized swathes of Syria from Islamic State.
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