Islamic State abducts 2,000 civilians in north Syria

Terror group uses human shields to deter attacks by Syrian Democratic Forces as its fighters flee former stronghold of Manbij

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Islamic State group fighters 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 abductions came as Russian and Syrian jets pounded rebel positions in second city Aleppo, an AFP correspondent and the Syrian Observatory for Human Right monitor said.

The Arab-Kurdish alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) expelled most of the IS fighters from Manbij last week, but dozens continued to put up a tough resistance.

On Friday they withdrew from a district in northern Manbij heading for the IS-held town of Jarabalus along the border with Turkey, taking the captives with them.

“While withdrawing from a district of Manbij, Daesh [IS] jihadists 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 said, adding that women and children were among those taken.

A member of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) walks on a street with his weapon in the northern Syrian town of Manbij on August 7, 2016, as SDF comb the city in search of the last remaining jihadists, a day after they retook it from the Islamic State group. (AFP PHOTO/DELIL SOULEIMAN)

The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on sources on the ground to cover the conflict, also reported that IS had abducted around 2,000 civilians as they fled Manbij.

It said IS confiscated residents’ cars, forced civilians into them and then headed for Jarabulus.

The jihadists, who have suffered a string of losses in Syria and Iraq, have often staged mass kidnappings in the two countries when they come under pressure to relinquish territory they hold.

In January, IS abducted more than 400 civilians, including women and children, as it overran parts of Deir Ezzor province in eastern Syria. It later released around 270 of them.

‘Human shields’

IS has used civilians as human shields, booby-trapped cars and carried out suicide bombings to slow advances by their opponents and avoid coming under attack.

Thousands of civilians were held captive by the group in Fallujah, which Iraqi forces recaptured in June after a four-week offensive.

On Friday, the SITE intelligence Group said IS killed five men in Iraq for smuggling people out of territory it controls.

It was not immediately clear how many jihadists fled Manbij, which the SDF captured on August 6.

But Darwish said that SDF managed to rescue 2,500 civilians who had been held captive by IS fighters there.

Members of Iraqi police forces celebrate on a street on June 27, 2016 in western Fallujah, 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Iraqi capital Baghdad, after Iraqi forces retook the embattled city from the Islamic State group. (AFP PHOTO / HAIDAR MOHAMMED ALI)

The US-backed forces combed Al-Sirb on Friday for any remaining jihadists, 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.

But their offensive was slowed by a massive jihadist fightback, before a major push last week saw the SDF seize 90 percent of the town.

Tens of thousands of people lived in Manbij before the assault started in May.

The United Nations said that more than 78,000 people have been displaced since then.

Manbij was a key transit point along IS’s supply route from the Turkish border to Raqqa, the de facto capital of its self-styled Islamic “caliphate.”

The Britain-based Observatory says the battle for Manbij claimed the lives of at least 437 civilians — including 105 children — and killed 299 SDF fighters and 1,019 jihadists.

Raids on Aleppo

The Observatory, meanwhile, reported that 15 civilians were killed Friday in Syrian and Russian air raids on rebel positions in the divided city of Aleppo.

The raids hit several neighborhoods as residents filled the streets to buy fresh produce brought into rebel-held areas which had been under government siege, an AFP correspondent said.

An AFP correspondent in the rebel-held east of the city said several neighborhoods were hit, adding that people had been out on the streets to stock up on supplies.

A video released by the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow shows a Russian warplane unloading its weapons over a Syrian target, August 10, 2016. (AP/Ivan Sekretarev)

Syria’s state news agency SANA, quoting a military source, said the warplanes destroyed several rebel positions and vehicles and killed “dozens of terrorists.”

Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 and has since killed more than 290,000 people and drawn in world powers on all sides of the war.

On Friday, Turkey vowed to cooperate with Syrian ally Iran to try to resolve the conflict in which Ankara backs rebels battling the government of President Bashar Assad.