Islamic State militants are preventing more than 1,000 civilians from leaving a tiny area still held by the extremist group in a village in eastern Syria, a spokesperson for the U.S.-backed Syrian militia fighting the group said Sunday. "Regrettably, Daesh have closed all the roads," Mustafa Bali, a spokesperson for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, told The Associated Press, referring to ISIS by its Arabic acronym. SDF officials have said the extremists are hiding among civilians in a tented village and using a network of caves and tunnels. ISIS, which once ruled a proto-state in large parts of Syria and Iraq, is clinging to an area of less than a square kilometre in the village of Baghouz, in eastern Syria. 'We will very soon bring good news'Occasional coalition airstrikes and clashes continue inside the village of Baghouz.

Source: CBC News February 17, 2019 11:37 UTC