Syrian force looks to clear more civilians from last IS pocket

OMAR OIL FIELD, Syria: US-backed fighters said on Saturday they were keeping a corridor open to rescue remaining civilians from the Islamic State group’s last sliver of territory in Syria, as the UN appealed for urgent assistance.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have evacuated nearly 5,000 men, women and children from the Jihadist holdout since Wednesday, bringing the SDF closer to retaking the less than half a square kilometre still under IS control.

"On our side, the corridor is open and we hope a larger number of civilians will arrive but that depends on IS fighters and whether they will give civilians a chance to exit," SDF spokesman Adnan Afrin told AFP at their Al-Omar base.

More than four years after IS overran large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq and declared a "caliphate", they have lost all but a tiny patch in the village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border.

Some 2,000 people are believed to remain inside Baghouz, according to the SDF.

The force says it is trying to evacuate remaining civilians through a corridor before pressing on with a battle to crush the Jihadists unless holdout fighters surrender.

Afrin said the SDF had evacuated "more than 2,000 people, including women, children and men" on Friday, mostly wives and children of IS fighters.

On Thursday, nearly 2,500 evacuees arrived at a Kurdish-run camp for the displaced further north, compounding already dire conditions inside the crammed settlement, the UN’s humanitarian coordination office OCHA said.

It warned of the "huge challenges" posed by the influx.

The SDF transferred those evacuated on Friday to a screening point outside Baghouz, to weed out potential jihadists.

Spokesman Mustefa Bali said that a group of Yazidi children were "among many children saved" from IS territory that day.

An AFP corespondent saw hundreds of women and children spread out on the arid desert ground, surrounded by bags, begging for food and water.

One woman rushed towards an SDF fighter screaming, as she cradled a pale infant in her arms. The fighter assured her that her child would be fine.