Alwaght- US-backed forces opened safe corridor for hundreds of ISIS vehicles, allowing 100 to 200 ISIS terrorists escape the northern Syrian city of Manbij, after laying down their arms.
Spokesman for the US-led coalition Col. Carver told Pentagon reporters the decision to let ISIS convoys leave the city was made by commanders of the Syrian Democratic Force (SDF), mainly Kurdish militia that is supported by the US.
According to Col. Carver, SDF has allowed ISIS terrorists to leave the besieged city of Manbij because they had civilians with them civilians in each of the vehicles, and the forces wanted to avoid casualties. He didn’t know how many of the civilians had been in the cars voluntarily but said some were likely hostages.
The 100 to 200 fighters left the city of Manbij last Friday under watch of coalition drones to ensure the terrorists didn’t regroup and try to return to the city.
It was the first such agreement with the terror group. ISIS terrorists were allegedly using civilians as human shields to escape.
"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," said Col. Chris Garver.
US advisers to the SDF agreed not to target the convoy with air strikes as it left the city. Garver told reporters that the coalition tracked the vehicles as they headed north but did not specify where they were. During the battle, coalition pilots reportedly used precision air strikes to disable several lanes on the bridge the ISIS fighters would later use to escape.
Associated Press cited US military officials as saying some of the ISIS fighters had already made their way into Turkey, and many were still in Syria.
US-led coalition forces had sustained three months of aerial bombardment and fighting on the northern Syrian city of Manbij.
In July, coalition warplanes dropped more than 1,000 munitions, including bombs, rockets and strafing runs (low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons) on militants in the area. US officials reported roughly 2,000 ISIS fighters were killed by airstrikes.
Syrian Democratic Forces seized control of the city on Friday and are now clearing the neighborhoods, looking for terrorists and improvised explosives.
Liberating Manbij from ISIS is a major victory, because the city lies on a major supply route between the Turkish border and ISIS' de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria.
