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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
SDF Poised for Final Assault on IS, find mass grave
2019-03-01
[AnNahar] Kurdish-led fighters readied Thursday for a final onslaught against jihadist fighters who have been defending the last patch of their "caliphate" in eastern Syria.

The SDF estimates the number of people inside the last IS redoubt, a patch of half a square kilometre on the banks of the Euphrates river, at anything from a few hundred to several thousand.

"We're not sure about the number of civilians still inside but everyday we're astonished by the number of people coming out. We didn't expect that," Afrin said.

The SDF also announced Thursday its forces had secured the release of 24 of their comrades who had been captured by the jihadists but did not specify how.

The US-backed SDF is ready to move from the west and north of Baghouz while the Syrian regime fighters and Iraqi paramilitaries sealing the siege are stationed across the river and border.

Accounts from women who have left the enclave in recent days suggest IS is allowing many families to go, sending them to a hill from which they can walk to an assembly point and hand themselves over.

"We have been waiting here a long time for the vehicles that will take us out," said Nadia al-Hamid, a woman from the nearby city of Mayadin.

- SLEEPING ROUGH -
Many of the civilians who spent months holed up in the last dreg of the "caliphate" proclaimed almost five years ago, are in bad physical and mental health.

"There have been more than 100 cases of diarrhoea among new arrivals and efforts are ongoing to prevent an outbreak of dysentery," the International Rescue Committee said.

"We are now seeing thousands of people sleeping rough in the arrivals area at the camp, where they are exposed to the cold, wind and rain," said Misty Buswell, the IRC's Middle East advocacy director.

"Many of the children are having to cope without shoes or coats," she added.

US-backed Syria fighters find mass grave near IS-held area
A brief video can be seen at the link.
[IsraelTimes] A front man for US-backed forces fighting the Islamic State group in Syria says they have uncovered a mass grave near the last IS-held pocket in the country’s east.

Adnan Afrin says the grave unearthed outside the village of Baghouz contains the remains of men and women but says the number of bodies and their identities remain unclear.

A video published by Kurdish-run Furat FM TV station has emerged showing several bodies dug out from a pit.

Afrin says his forces managed to free 24 SDF fighters over the course of evacuating civilians from the area.
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