ISIS fighters hunkered down in a riverside camp surrounded by battered vehicles and makeshift tents in eastern Syria today as US-backed forces pushed to expel the militants from the last scrap of their dying 'caliphate'.
Thousands of men and women have poured out of the pocket of territory in the village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border in recent days, their wounded, and dust-covered children, in tow.
The extremist group created a proto-state across large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, ruling millions of people, but has since lost all of it except a tiny patch in Baghouz by the Euphrates River.
The last IS fighters and their families were cornered on Friday among a dense gathering of vehicles and tents on the water's edge, caught between advancing US-backed forces and Syrian regime fighters across the river.
Men and women draped in black walked between a sea of small pickup trucks and caravans scattered across the uneven riverbank, footage obtained by AFP showed.
A still from a video released by the Free Burma Rangers showing people moving between tents in a makeshift camp in the last ISIS-controlled piece of territory in Syria's Baghouz
The militants and their families were forced to set up camp amongst battered pick-up trucks and tents on the last scrap of land
ISIS forces fleeing the village of Baghouz in the eastern Deir Ezzor province have been cornered into a small piece of land between US-backed forces and a riverbank
Women hug near the village of Baghouz, Deir Al Zor province, in Syria, as US-backed forces sweep the dying 'caliphate' out of its Syrian-controlled territory
Thousands of men, women and children have streamed out of the Islamic State group's embattled holdout of Baghouz in eastern Syria in recent days
Children sit next to their injured mother with one resting his head on her as she lies on the ground surrounded discarded possessions near the village of Baghouz
Amid the haphazard dwellings, a black cow grazed on a patch of dry grass.
The images, filmed by the Free Burma Rangers aid group, showed a motorbike darting between a dark earth berm topped with clumps of reeds and a line of makeshift shelters.
Just a few metres from the river, a few figures sat behind a wall of breeze-blocks erected among a thick bed of reeds, shielding them from the other side of the waterway.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, who are backed by air strikes by the US-led coalition against IS, are waiting for all civilians to be evacuated before moving in to retake the last scrap of IS-held territory.
More than 7,000 people, mostly women and children, have left the enclave this week, into territory held by the Kurdish-led SDF.
On Thursday, AFP saw dozens of women and children at a screening point for new arrivals outside Baghouz.
A woman dressed from head to toe in black sat slumped on a wheelchair, with other women and children wrapped in thick jackets scattered on blankets at her feet.
All around, women and children sat together in groups under a cloud of churned-up orange dust.
A fighter from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) walks in front of two trucks carrying refugees, near the village of Baghouz
A child sitting in a baby carriage surrounded by scattered blankets and other possessions near the village of Baghouz, Deir Al Zor province, in Syria
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have struggled to deal with thousands of people who have fled Baghouz
Men sit together waiting for aid, some injured and other living in makeshift camps near the village of Baghouz
Aid groups have said that children who have fled Baghouz are 'victims of the conflict' who must be protected
Near a field of yellow flowers, two SDF fighters carried a man with a long beard on a wooden stretcher.
He was the latest wounded man to emerge from the dregs of the 'caliphate', after a stream of men limping out on crutches a day earlier.
Around a tenth of the nearly 58,000 people who have fled the last IS bastion since December were jihadists, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.
It is unclear how many people remain inside, but the SDF has been surprised by the large numbers streaming out in recent days.
At the height of its rule, IS imposed its brutal interpretation of Islam across an area the size of the United Kingdom.
After it lost major cities in both countries in 2017, the fall of Baghouz would be a symbolic end to its territorial control.
But General Joseph Votel, head of the US Central Command, warned Thursday that many of those being evacuated are 'unrepentant, unbroken and radicalised'.
He told Congress the fight against IS was 'far from over', and stressed the need to 'maintain a vigilant offensive against this now widely dispersed and disaggregated organisation'.
Members of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) help a woman near Baghouz with her food and belongings as one of the soldier's Kalashnikov rifles rests against her bags
A Syrian fighter of the Turkish-backed Hamza Division mans a turret mounted in the back of a pickup truck flying a Turkish flag at a position in the village of Ulashli near the frontline in the northeast of Aleppo
A member of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) helps a woman near the village of Baghouz as thousands of men, women and children flee the fighting
A Syrian fighter of the Turkish-backed Hamza Division aims a Kalashnikov assault rifle from a position in the village of Ulashli near the frontline in the northeast of Aleppo
A boy looks out of a truck tarp near the village of Baghouz as he is transported in vehicles taking displaced families to refugee camps in Kurdish-controlled norther Syria
Beyond Baghouz, IS fighters are still present in Syria's vast Badia desert and have claimed deadly attacks in SDF-held territory, including one that killed four Americans in the city of Manbij in January.
US President Trump stunned allies in December when he announced all 2,000 US troops would withdraw from Syria as IS had been defeated.
The White House later said that around 200 American 'peace-keeping' soldiers would remain in northern Syria.
The SDF is holding detained jihadists in jail, while civilians are being trucked to Kurdish-held displacement camps hours north.
Syria's Kurds have detained hundreds of foreigners accused of fighting for IS, as well as family members, but their home nations have been reluctant to take them back.
Baghouz is currently the only active front in Syria's eight-year civil war, the latest battle in a complex, devastating conflict that has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions from their homes.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2019/03/08/isis-fighters-hunker-down-in-makeshift-camp-beside-battered-vehicles-on-last-scrap-of-land/
Main photo article ISIS fighters hunkered down in a riverside camp surrounded by battered vehicles and makeshift tents in eastern Syria today as US-backed forces pushed to expel the militants from the last scrap of their dying ‘caliphate’.
Thousands of men and women have poured out of the pocket of ...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/03/08/11/10738336-6785989-A_still_from_a_video_released_by_the_Free_Burma_Rangers_showing_-a-25_1552044143269.jpg
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