Hundreds of ISIS militants who fled Manbij with civilians head towards Turkish border.(Rudaw).
ERBIL,
Kurdistan Region—The anti-Islamic State (ISIS) international coalition
is tracking hundreds of militants whom they believe fled the Syrian town
of Manbij with the civilian population shortly before its liberation by
rebel forces last week.
“Civilians
were observed in the convoy intermingled with fighters in every
vehicle,” coalition spokesman Colonel Chris Garver said, according to
AFP.
Col.
Garver believes that 100-200 ISIS militants managed to flee Manbij
hidden among civilians or human shields that the group took with them as
fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) made their way into the
city.
“We're keeping track of them. I don't want to talk too much about that. It's an ongoing operation,” Col. Garver said.
The
ISIS fighters tracked by the coalition forces are said to have fled
north towards the Turkish border, parts of which is still under the
group’s control.
Col.
Garver was quoted as saying that convoys seen leaving Manbij were not
fired on by the coalition or the SDF as was done against the group’s
convoy in Fallujah, because the convoys carried a mix of militants and
civilians.
“We had to treat them all as noncombatants. We didn't shoot. We kept watching,” he told reporters.
Col.
Garver said that the ISIS militants had deliberately tried to “put
civilians in harm’s way,” during the SDF advance into the city of
Manbij.
“They
kept throwing civilians to basically walk into the line of fire, trying
to get them shot, to use that potentially as propaganda, we think,” he
said, adding “We have repeatedly mentioned the care that our partnered
forces were taking to avoid civilian casualties and collateral damage,
so the partnered forces on the ground did not engage the convoy.” Hmmmm.....Lets give them free visa travel to Europe?
Anti-ISIS Coalition spox Garver specifically does not want to say if ISIS fled to Turkey. OK https://t.co/BsuJtH9cBr pic.twitter.com/aUpyx61LPC— ilhan tanir (@WashingtonPoint) August 17, 2016
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