US-backed Syrian fighters battling the ISIS militants in their last foothold in Syria say they have been forced to slow down their push because the extremists are using civilians as human shields.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) faced landmines, car bombs, tunnel ambushes, and suicide attacks on Sunday as they attempted to overrun the last area in the village of Baghouz held by the militants.
Over the past few weeks its assault has been held up as tens of thousands of people fled Baghouz, all that remained to the group of its main territory in Iraq and Syria after years of retreats including a series of major defeats in 2017.
But despite the slowing, Mustafa Bali, the head of the SDF media office, tweeted on Monday that the battle to retake ISIS-held Baghouz "is going to be over soon."
SDF resumed its offensive to recapture Baghouz last Friday, after a two-week pause to allow for the evacuation of civilians.
Retaking the sliver of land would be a milestone in the devastating four-year campaign to end ISIS' self-proclaimed caliphate that once straddled vast territory across Syria and Iraq.
Bali said "we're slowing down the offensive" due to a small number of civilians held as human shields.
While the capture of Baghouz would mark a milestone in the fight against ISIS, the group is expected to remain a security threat as an insurgent force with sleeper cells and some pockets of remote territory.
