Baladi News
US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian forces say they have begun the final push to defeat the Islamic State group in the last pocket it holds in eastern Syria.
"The SDF have started to launch ... the decisive battle to finish off the remaining IS terrorists in the village of Baghouz," Al Jazeera cited the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spokesman Mustafa Bali as saying in Arabic on Twitter.
Bali tweeted that the offensive began Saturday after more than 20,000 civilians were evacuated from the IS-held area in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.
Bali says the aim of the current push is to end the military presence of "Daesh terrorists."
Backed by air raids by the US-led coalition against Daesh, the Kurdish-Arab alliance has in recent months cornered the remaining IS fighters in a final patch of territory in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.
After a pause of more than a week to allow civilians to flee, the SDF said Saturday it had resumed the fight to seize the last four-square-kilometre patch from IS.
Bali said there could be up to 600 IS fighters still inside the pocket, most of them foreigners. Hundreds of civilians are also believed to be inside.
Source: Al Jazeera.