BEIRUT: Daesh terrorists seized around 2,000 civilians to use as “human shields” Friday as they fled their stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria, US-backed forces and a monitor said.
The Arab-Kurdish alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) expelled most of the Daesh combatants from the town last week, but a small number remained.
“While withdrawing from a district of Manbij, Daesh extremists abducted around 2,000 civilians from Al-Sirb neighborhood,” said Sherfan Darwish, spokesman for the Manbij Military Council, a key component of the SDF.
“They used these civilians as human shields as they withdrew to Jarabulus, thus preventing us from targeting them,” he added.
Al-Sirb is a district in northern Manbij on the way to the Daesh-held border town of Jarabulus in Aleppo province near the border with Turkey.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on sources on the ground to cover the conflict, also reported that Daesh had abducted around 2,000 civilians as they fled Manbij. It said the civilians were placed in hundreds of cars that then headed for Jarabulus.
Darwish said the civilians who were taken were residents of Al-Sirb and other districts, including a central neighborhood known as the “security quarter” in the center of Manbij.
It was not immediately clear how many terrorists fled from the town, but reports last week after the SDF forces took Manbij said that dozens of Daesh men were holed up in the “security quarter.” Darwish said that around 2,500 other civilians “held captive by the terrorists were saved” by the SDF.
The US-backed forces were meanwhile combing Al-Sirb on Friday for extremists who could still be in the neighborhood, he added.
With air support from the US-led coalition, the SDF began its assault on Manbij on May 31, surging into the town itself three weeks later.
Tens of thousands of people lived in Manbij before the assault started in May.
The Arab-Kurdish alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) expelled most of the Daesh combatants from the town last week, but a small number remained.
“While withdrawing from a district of Manbij, Daesh extremists abducted around 2,000 civilians from Al-Sirb neighborhood,” said Sherfan Darwish, spokesman for the Manbij Military Council, a key component of the SDF.
“They used these civilians as human shields as they withdrew to Jarabulus, thus preventing us from targeting them,” he added.
Al-Sirb is a district in northern Manbij on the way to the Daesh-held border town of Jarabulus in Aleppo province near the border with Turkey.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on sources on the ground to cover the conflict, also reported that Daesh had abducted around 2,000 civilians as they fled Manbij. It said the civilians were placed in hundreds of cars that then headed for Jarabulus.
Darwish said the civilians who were taken were residents of Al-Sirb and other districts, including a central neighborhood known as the “security quarter” in the center of Manbij.
It was not immediately clear how many terrorists fled from the town, but reports last week after the SDF forces took Manbij said that dozens of Daesh men were holed up in the “security quarter.” Darwish said that around 2,500 other civilians “held captive by the terrorists were saved” by the SDF.
The US-backed forces were meanwhile combing Al-Sirb on Friday for extremists who could still be in the neighborhood, he added.
With air support from the US-led coalition, the SDF began its assault on Manbij on May 31, surging into the town itself three weeks later.
Tens of thousands of people lived in Manbij before the assault started in May.
