by: sdf-press.com
In an official statement released on February 28, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced that ISIS had released 24 of its fighters. The terrorist group captured these fighters during a series of counter attacks in the middle Euphrates River Valley in late 2018.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), ISIS released the SDF fighters in exchange for food supplies. The remaining terrorist group’s fighters have been besieged in a 600m2 pocket north of the town of al-Baghuz al-Fawqani with no supplies for more than a month now.
The SDF also confirmed that it had paused its operations against ISIS in the Euphrates Valley. The Kurdish-dominated group said that his step was taken to facilitate the evacuation of the civilians from ISIS last stronghold.
“We decided to pause the clashes with the terrorist group after we besieged it in order to avoid any civilian casualties,” the SDF’s statement reads.
The US-backed group is not evacuating civilians only, but also ISIS fighters who are willing to surrender. In the last 72 hours, more than 350 terrorists, mostly foreigners, were seen leaving the terrorist group’s pocket.
The evacuation process is expected to continue over the upcoming few days, as thousands of civilians and hundreds of ISIS fighters are still hiding in the narrow pocket near al-Baghuz al-Fawqani.
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