U.S.-backed rebels say they've captured an ISIS encampment in Baghouz, eastern Syria, but the overall fight continues
The taking of the IS encampment, though a significant milestone, was not the final defeat of IS in the village of Baghouz, the last sliver of territory in Syria held by the extremists, according to Mustafa Bali, the spokesman for the Kurdish-led force known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. “This is not a victory announcement, but a significant progress in the fight,” Bali said in a Twitter post.
The sheer number of people who have emerged, nearly 30,000 since early January according to Kurdish officials, has taken the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces by surprise. Most have been women and children whose existence in a labyrinth of underground caves and tunnels was unknown to the U.S.-backed fighters.
Commander Rustam Hasake told The Associated Press that SDF forces advanced on four fronts on Monday night and were inside the camp when the last IS fighters surrendered at dawn. He said the last fighters were pushed out of the camp and were now in an open patch of land by the Euphrates River and were being processed and detained. It was not clear how many they were.
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