US-backed Kurdish-Arab forces launched an offensive Sunday on the Islamic State group's de facto Syrian capital Raqa, upping pressure on the jihadists who are already battling Iraqi troops in Mosul.
Islamic State group jihadists have released hundreds of civilians they used as human shields while fleeing a crumbling stronghold in northern Syria, but the fate of others remained unknown Saturday.
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.
Arab-Kurdish fighters backed by the United States on Friday cut the Islamic State group's main supply route between Syria and Turkey, a monitor said, in a major setback for the jihadists.
Thousands of civilians fled a key town in northern Syria held by the Islamic State group early on Tuesday as US-backed Kurdish and Arab fighters closed in, a monitor said.
A US-led coalition has carried out at least 150 air strikes on the Islamic State group to back an offensive near the jihadists' northern Syria stronghold, a monitor said Friday.
