IS Frees Hundreds Of 'human Shields' In Syria

BEIRUT, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th August, 2016) - Islamic State group miltants have released hundreds of civilians they used as human shields while fleeing a crumbling stronghold in northern Syria, but the fate of others remained unknown Saturday. The last remaining IS fighters abandoned Manbij near the Turkish border on Friday after a rout that the Pentagon said showed the extremists were "on the ropes". The retreat from the city which IS captured in 2014 marked the jihadists' worst defeat yet at the hands of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an Arab-Kurdish alliance supported by US air power.

Fleeing fighters took around 2,000 civilians, including women and children, on Friday to ward off air strikes as they headed to the IS-held frontier town of Jarabulus, according to the SDF. At least some of the civilians were later released or escaped, the alliance said on Saturday, but the whereabouts of the rest was unknown.