Source:
https://scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/2186716/trapped-tiny-syrian-village-baghouz-militants-refuse
World/ Middle East

Caliphate’s end game: trapped in this tiny Syrian village, Islamic State militants are making their final stand

  • More than 300 extremists trying to negotiate an exit while besieged by US-backed forces surrounding Baghouz village
  • Fighters are hiding among civilians and preventing them from leaving the area
A US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter stands atop a building that overlooks the village where Islamic State militants in Baghouz are making their last stand. Photo: AP

More than 300 Islamic State militants surrounded in a tiny area in eastern Syria are refusing to surrender to US-backed forces and are trying to negotiate an exit, Syrian activists and a person close to the negotiations said on Monday.

The extremists are bottled up in the village of Baghouz, where they are hiding among hundreds of civilians and preventing them from leaving. The stalling tactics are likely to further delay a declaration of the end of the IS group’s self-proclaimed caliphate, which the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces were hoping to make last week.