Hundreds leave IS-held area in Syria as fighting slows down

Hundreds of people including fighters from the Islamic State group evacuated their last foothold in eastern Syria Monday hours after US-backed Syrian fighters said they were forced to slow their advance because the extremists are using civilians as human shields.

But despite this hinderance, spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces Mustafa Bali tweeted that the battle to retake Baghouz, the last territory in Syria held by the Islamic State group, was "going to be over soon."
The previous night, an SDF statement said the Kurdish-led forces would continue their military campaign "to take control of the last ISIS-held pocket in Baghouz and to liberate the remaining civilians who are being used as human shields."