US-led forces transfer IS militants from Raqqa to Deir al-Zour

Dozens of Islamic State (IS) militants are being transferred under the protection of the US-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the northern city of Raqqa towards Deir al-Zour province in eastern Syria, a media report said.

Citing activists, state news agency SANA said on Saturday the US-led coalition's warplanes are flying over Raqqa, the de facto capital of the IS, without conducting airstrikes over the past two days, Xinhua reported.

SANA said the US and the SDF had struck an agreement with the IS for their evacuation from Raqqa to Deir al-Zour, where the Syrian government forces are fighting the IS militants.

"This US-Daesh agreement is not the first, as several similar agreements have preceded this one in the city of Tabqa, Mansura and Karama in the countryside of Raqqa, under which IS militants were transferred to areas the Syrian army is fighting the terror group," SANA said, suggesting that the US is supporting the IS.

The state news agency said the agreement sparks questions about the goal of the US and the SDF.

It said the US had evacuated tens of IS leaders from Deir al-Zour before the Syrian army reached their areas.

The state news agency said the new agreement came days after the Russian Defence Ministry accused the US forces in the Tanf area of lending a blind eye, while around 400 terrorists crossed the area where the US forces were stationed.

SANA also reminded of the US attack on Syrian military positions in the Tharda mountain last year, during which 90 Syrian soldiers were killed, and the IS managed to take over the area in the countryside of Deir al-Zour.

"All of these facts are pieces of evidence that the United States considered and still considers terrorism, whether IS or any other group, as a paper it manipulates to achieve its schemes to target Syria."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights earlier said the foreign IS fighters were still inside Raqqa while the local militants of the terror-designated group were evacuated out of the city.

What hindered the transfer or surrender of the foreign militants is the opposition of the Western countries, mainly the US and France, according to the Observatory.

The coalition said earlier that 100 IS militants had left Raqqa.

The IS militants declared Raqqa as their capital in 2014, after announcing their self-styled caliphate.

Tens of civilians have died during the intense battles as well as in the airstrikes of the US-led anti-terror coalition.

On September 7, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said as many as 978 civilians had been killed in three months by the US-led airstrike and the shelling on Raqqa.