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.
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Fighters from the US -backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) recaptured Manbij, Aleppo province, on Friday after more than 70 days of intense fighting against ISIS, which seized the northern town about two years ago.
US-backed Syrian forces said on Sunday they had established a military council to push ISIL fighters out of their northern bastion of Al Bab, two days after ousting the extremists from Manbij.
Darwish also added that women and children were among the abducted, and that they used the captured as human shields while withdrawing towards Jarabulus.
The fighters also freed hundreds of civilians the extremists had used as human shields, Syrian Kurdish officials and an opposition activist group said.
Reuters news agency spoke to a resident of Manbij who described a spot where people were beheaded.
Their offensive was slowed by a massive jihadist fightback using suicide attackers and auto bombs, before a major push last week saw the SDF seize 90 per cent of the town.
The SDF, with heavy air support from a US -led coalition, said last week they had taken nearly complete control of Manbij, where a small number of IS fighters had been holed up.
The loss in Manbij comes as Islamic State suffers defeats across the region to local forces and an US -led worldwide coalition.
Aug 13, 2016- Kurdish and Arab fighters say they have liberated the north Syrian town of Manbij from so-called Islamic State, cutting off its route to Europe.
Kurdish sources and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors Syria’s five-year-old war, said around 500 cars had left Manbij carrying Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) members and an unknown number of civilians.
“It was complicated for us to save civilians from the area, but we did it. Terrorists are now fleeing. When he removed it there was an explosion and he was killed”, the source said.
The battle for Manbij lasted 73 days, displacing almost 100,000 civilians and left more than 400 dead.
Manbij is important because it lies on a key supply route between the Turkish border and the city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the IS group’s self-styled caliphate, NYT reported.
The observatory said the battle for Manbij had claimed the lives of at least 437 civilians, 299 SDF fighters and 1,019 jihadis.
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Strikes by the Russian and Syrian air force continued despite a pledge by Moscow to observe a three-hour daily ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid deliveries.
