This comes after Syrian regime forces regained control of the ancient city of Palmyra from the militants in March. But Moscow has accused the US and Saudi Arabia of supplying cash and weapons to anti-Assad forces, which it said includes fighters from an al-Qaida offshoot. He added that women and children were among those taken.
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The U.S. -backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Friday they had seized full control of the town of Manbij near the Turkish border after the departure of the last of the extremists, who had been using civilians as human shields.
“While withdrawing from a district of Manbij, Daesh (IS) militants abducted around 2,000 civilians from Al-Sirb neighbourhood”, said Sherfan Darwish, spokesman for the Manbij Military Council, a key component of the SDF.
A woman embraces a Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter after she was evacuated with others by the SDF from an Islamic State-controlled area in Aleppo Governorate, Syria.
The loss of Manbij is a huge blow to ISIL which has used the city as a transit point for foreign jihadists and provisions from the Turkish border.
Darwish said roughly 100 Islamic State fighters were left in the centre of the city, and that they were using civilians as human shields.
Extraordinary pictures show men having their beards cut off and women burning niqabs after the Syrian city of Manbij was liberated from Islamic State.
They were heading northeast toward Jarablus, a town under ISIS control on the Turkish border, the Observatory said.
USA officials have said once the Manbij operation was completed, it would create the conditions to move on the militant group’s de facto capital of Raqqa where United States officials anticipate a tough battle.
SDF forces captured Manbij on August 6 but continued to battle pockets of jihadis in parts of the town.
Asked about the US promise to Turkey that PYD – a group Ankara does not recognize as a legitimate Syrian opposition – would leave the area after Manbij’s liberation, Trowbridge said Washington certainly understood Turkey’s sensitivities regarding the issue.
More than 1,000 IS fighters were killed in the offensive, according to the Observatory, as well as around 300 SDF fighters.
The BBC reported that US officials claim that after the capture of Manjib, the coalition’s intention is to move on to Raqqa, which had become the de facto capital of the Islamic “caliphate” two years ago.
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The loss in Manbij comes as Islamic State suffers defeats across the region to local forces and an USA -led worldwide coalition.
