Several hundred of the last civilians trapped by Islamic State in the militant group’s remaining sliver of territory left on Wednesday, suggesting the extremist group was near a surrender to U.S.-backed Kurdish forces. Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, took the 400 civilians to camps housing displaced people from the village of Baghouz in eastern Syria, monitoring groups said. Islamic State fighters had been using them as human shields.

Source: Wall Street Journal February 20, 2019 21:08 UTC