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Dying IS territory in Syria empties itself of last survivors

AFP

A fully veiled woman holds two little girls against her chest as hundreds of civilians, who streamed out of "Islamic State" (IS)'s last Syrian stronghold, walk towards a screening point for new arrivals run by US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) outside Baghouz, Syria, March 5. [Delil Souleiman/AFP]

A fully veiled woman holds two little girls against her chest as hundreds of civilians, who streamed out of "Islamic State" (IS)'s last Syrian stronghold, walk towards a screening point for new arrivals run by US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) outside Baghouz, Syria, March 5. [Delil Souleiman/AFP]

NEAR BAGHOUZ, Syria -- Shell-shocked and dishevelled, hundreds of women and children stumbled through eastern Syria's windswept desert carrying what little they could after fleeing the final speck of territory of the "Islamic State" (IS).

Some of the very last survivors of the jihadists' remaining territory, they arrived by the lorry-full to a collection point run by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

After being searched, the women settled in clusters on the rough desert floor, their long black robes blanketed in dust and hemmed by filthy, malnourished children who tore into aid packages of water and bread.

A woman from Deir Ezzor, dragging an over-stuffed bag and carrying an empty jug, called out for water before stooping to pick up a half-empty bottle off the ground and guzzle it down.

Civilians evacuated from "Islamic State" (IS)'s embattled holdout of Baghouz, Syria, wait at a screening area held by the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) March 5. [Bulent Kilic/AFP]

Civilians evacuated from "Islamic State" (IS)'s embattled holdout of Baghouz, Syria, wait at a screening area held by the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) March 5. [Bulent Kilic/AFP]

A photo published by "Islamic State" (IS) on Telegram December 13 shows a group of its fighters huddling around a smartphone in Syria. [File]

A photo published by "Islamic State" (IS) on Telegram December 13 shows a group of its fighters huddling around a smartphone in Syria. [File]

"We were besieged... we've been drinking dirty water."

Nearby, hundreds of men who also chose to quit the redoubt stood wearily in line as troops from the US-led coalition backing the SDF processed them for detention.

Bandaged and bedraggled, more than several of them on crutches, the suspected fighters made for a telling image -- the dying days of the jihadists' once-sprawling proto-state.

At its peak more than four years ago, IS ruled over millions of people in a patch of territory the size of the United Kingdom.

But the jihadists have been rolled back to just a scrap of land tucked into a bend along the Euphrates River near Syria's border with Iraq.

'No such thing as IS anymore'

The SDF and the US-led coalition pounded the holdout jihadists over the weekend, after pausing their offensive for weeks to allow civilians in the bombed-out bastion a chance to leave.

But the Kurdish-led force was forced Sunday (March 3) to again dial down its push over further fears for civilians still trapped inside the pocket.

At the collection point, children wandered wide-eyed through a wasteland of rubbish left behind by previous groups of evacuees.

Tens of thousands of civilians have been trucked out in recent weeks from the jihadists' ever-shrinking territory -- in a seemingly never-ending flow of women and children from across the region and the world.

Those who filed out in the past few days said there were still thousands of civilians left but that the remaining jihadists were prepared to go down fighting.

"It's over," said 13-year-old Mahmoud, from Aleppo, Syria, as he trudged towards another lorry ready to take him to a camp overflowing with evacuees.

"There's no such thing as IS anymore."

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Well done, Russia! If not for them the USA would be "fighting" ISIS for the next 200 years!

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