AhlulBayt News Agency - More than 13,000 people have so far fled the IS-held Manbij in northern Syria since the start of a large-scale operation by Syrian forces in late May, according to a monitor.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) revealed on Monday that after more than one month of the Syrian forces operations on Manbij, at list 13,000 civilians have managed to escape the city with the flow going on.
Head of the SOHR, Rami Abdel Rahman, revealed that the fleeing increased after Syrian forces besieged Manbij on June 10, while only on Sunday, July 3rd, “hundreds of people fled a southern district of the town where there have been fierce clashes in recent days.”
Manbij is considered a strategic location for both the IS and the SDF. It is located near Turkish southern borders where IS may no longer reach if it loses the town.
The London-based human rights watchdog also stated that while attempting to escape IS, some civilians were killed either by IS snipers or IEDs planted by the terrorist group.
According to the figures released by the UN’s humanitarian office late in June, some 60,000 people are believed to be still in the town by that time.
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