Citing an SDF military source, Al Jazeera correspondent Zeina Khodr reported on Monday that 150 fighters had surrendered to SDF officials along with about 350 civilians.
The US-backed SDF recently resumed their offensive on Baghouz, a war-torn village in eastern Syria, on Friday, bringing to a close a two-week pause that allowed the evacuation of civilians who were still in the area, Reuters reported.
Footage of the rebooted offensive was shared on social media by Mustafa Bali, the head of the SDF press office.
— Mustafa Bali (@mustefabali) March 2, 2019
— Mustafa Bali (@mustefabali) March 2, 2019
In one image, a film crew attempting to capture the exchanges of fire between Daesh and SDF personnel is seen crouching down and positioning their cameras as a huge explosion of fire erupts.
— Mustafa Bali (@mustefabali) March 3, 2019
"Our comrades from YPG media unit came under a vicious attack by [Daesh militants] while filming the operation at outskirts of Baghouz yesterday," Bali tweeted. "Luckily, the attack failed and nobody got injured."
Although it's unclear how many additional Daesh militants remain in the village, Bali did reveal over the weekend that the Baghouz offensive "is going to be over soon."
According to Khodr, the civilians who fled Baghouz were directed to the al-Hol camp, where humanitarian aid workers are struggling to keep up with the growing number of arriving refugees.
"Each wave of the new arrivals seems to be in worse condition than the one before," the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement. "Access to latrines and washing facilities is no longer adequate, and more will be needed."
This latest development from the camp comes weeks after it was reported by the World Health Organization that at least 29 children and newborns died, mainly from hypothermia, in the camp or as their families traveled to it.
