US-backed fighters have been hoping for weeks that the final day has come for the Islamic State group's "caliphate", but its last tiny sliver of land just won't seem to empty.&nbsp;

Tens of thousands of dust-covered women, children and men have streamed out of the ragged tent encampment in the Syrian village of Baghouz since December -- and despite that exodus they still keep on coming.&nbsp;

The numbers have flummoxed the Kurdish-led forces and bogged down their offensive to finish off the once sprawling proto-state.

"When we began the operation we knew there would be civilians, but not in such a big number," Adnan Afrin, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, said Thursday. &nbsp;

In recent days thousands more men and women -- including those who once flocked to join IS from across the globe -- left the IS pocket.

That upended assumptions that few families remained holed up in Baghouz and those who refused to leave or surrender were choosing to die there. &nbsp;

"They're coming from underground... they're never-ending," said one SDF official.&nbsp;

The International Rescue Committee on Friday said as many as 12,000 people from Baghouz have arrived in one camp for non-combatants in northeast Syria over the past 48 hours, including some 6,000 people on Thursday alone.&nbsp;

The women trucked out of the bastion this week gave drastically varying figures on the holdout families that remain in the bombed-out and besieged jihadist bastion. &nbsp;

"There's still more," said Umm Aboud from the northern Syrian city of Al-Bab.&nbsp;

"You see how many people have come out in the past few days, there's that many still inside," said the mother of four, her bright green eyes peering through a black veil.&nbsp;

'Thousands' still inside

More than 55,000 civilians have arrived in the Kurdish-run Al-Hol camp since December, according to the International Rescue Committee. &nbsp;

"The IRC and other agencies are doing all they can do help the new arrivals but Al-Hol camp is now at breaking point," the organisation said Friday.

"No one could have guessed that such a large number of women and children were still living in Baghouz."

Questions remain as to how aid planners, as well as SDF officials and their coalition partners, could have so severely underestimated the number of people left in the crumbling "caliphate".&nbsp;

Carrying what they could manage, black-clad women trucked out of Baghouz in the past few days have said they were living crammed together in trenches, tents and cars near the bend in the Euphrates as the bombing campaign rolled the redoubt back.&nbsp;

"There are thousands of families leaving... (but) there were thousands and thousands of families there, even I was surprised," 35-year-old Umm Alaa, from the Iraqi town of Heet, said Wednesday after fleeing. &nbsp;

The mother of 10 said she lost a child last week due to hunger as the situation grew increasingly desperate. &nbsp;

Footage obtained by AFP from the Free Burma Rangers, a Christian aid group run by a former US special forces operative, showed hundreds of people still remained in the riverside camp. &nbsp;

In the images said to have been filmed Thursday, women draped in black walked through the makeshift dwellings as overturned cars and scraps of twisted metal littered the ground.

The aid group has come in close proximity to the camp in recent days and its head, David Eubank, told AFP some two thousand people could remain inside.&nbsp;

Analyst Mutlu Civiroglu, on the ground in eastern Syria, told AFP that IS was purposefully trying to conceal its numbers.&nbsp;

They have regularly been "releasing certain numbers of people, including fighters, in controlled amounts" in an attempt to buy time, he said. &nbsp;

"If they really wanted to surrender, they would have... and if they wanted to fight again, they could have," he added. &nbsp;

The delay was "a deliberate effort, maybe to prepare for something else... what that is though is unclear".&nbsp;

US-backed fighters have been hoping for weeks that the final day has come for the Islamic State group's "caliphate", but its last tiny sliver of land just won't seem to empty.

US-backed fighters have been hoping for weeks that the final day has come for the Islamic State group's "caliphate", but its last tiny sliver of land just won't seem to empty. Tens of thousands of dust-covered women, children and men have streamed out of the ragged tent encampment in the Syrian village of Baghouz since December -- and despite that exodus they still keep on coming. The numbers have flummoxed the Kurdish-led forces and bogged down their offensive to finish off the once sprawling proto-state. "When we began the operation we knew there would be civilians, but not in such a big number," Adnan Afrin, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, said Thursday. In recent days thousands more men and women -- including those who once flocked to join IS from across the globe -- left the IS pocket. That upended assumptions that few families remained holed up in Baghouz and those who refused to leave or surrender were choosing to die there. "They're coming from underground... they're never-ending," said one SDF official. The International Rescue Committee on Friday said as many as 12,000 people from Baghouz have arrived in one camp for non-combatants in northeast Syria over the past 48 hours, including some 6,000 people on Thursday alone. The women trucked out of the bastion this week gave drastically varying figures on the holdout families that remain in the bombed-out and besieged jihadist bastion. "There's still more," said Umm Aboud from the northern Syrian city of Al-Bab. "You see how many people have come out in the past few days, there's that many still inside," said the mother of four, her bright green eyes peering through a black veil. 'Thousands' still inside More than 55,000 civilians have arrived in the Kurdish-run Al-Hol camp since December, according to the International Rescue Committee. "The IRC and other agencies are doing all they can do help the new arrivals but Al-Hol camp is now at breaking point," the organisation said Friday. "No one could have guessed that such a large number of women and children were still living in Baghouz." Questions remain as to how aid planners, as well as SDF officials and their coalition partners, could have so severely underestimated the number of people left in the crumbling "caliphate". Carrying what they could manage, black-clad women trucked out of Baghouz in the past few days have said they were living crammed together in trenches, tents and cars near the bend in the Euphrates as the bombing campaign rolled the redoubt back. "There are thousands of families leaving... (but) there were thousands and thousands of families there, even I was surprised," 35-year-old Umm Alaa, from the Iraqi town of Heet, said Wednesday after fleeing. The mother of 10 said she lost a child last week due to hunger as the situation grew increasingly desperate. Footage obtained by AFP from the Free Burma Rangers, a Christian aid group run by a former US special forces operative, showed hundreds of people still remained in the riverside camp. In the images said to have been filmed Thursday, women draped in black walked through the makeshift dwellings as overturned cars and scraps of twisted metal littered the ground. The aid group has come in close proximity to the camp in recent days and its head, David Eubank, told AFP some two thousand people could remain inside. Analyst Mutlu Civiroglu, on the ground in eastern Syria, told AFP that IS was purposefully trying to conceal its numbers. They have regularly been "releasing certain numbers of people, including fighters, in controlled amounts" in an attempt to buy time, he said. "If they really wanted to surrender, they would have... and if they wanted to fight again, they could have," he added. The delay was "a deliberate effort, maybe to prepare for something else... what that is though is unclear".

'Never-ending' numbers in last Islamic State scrap shock US-backed fighters

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and their Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners have agreed a plan to strip some Germans who fight for the Islamic State militant group of their citizenship, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said on Monday.

More than 1,000 Germans have left their country for war zones in the Middle East since 2013 and the government has been debating how to deal with them as US-backed forces are poised to take the last patch of territory from Islamic State in Syria.

About a third have returned to Germany, another third are believed to have died and the rest are believed to be still in Iraq and Syria, including some detained by Iraqi forces and US-backed fighters in Syria.

An Interior Ministry spokeswoman told a news conference that three criteria must be met to allow the government to denaturalise Germans who take up arms for the Islamist group.

Such individuals must have second citizenship and be adults. They would be stripped of their citizenship should they fight for Islamic State after the new rules come into effect.

The compromise ended a dispute over the issue between conservative Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and SPD Justice Minister Katarina Barley.

US President Donald Trump last month urged Britain, France and Germany to take back more than 800 captured Islamic State fighters and put them on trial.

Germany said it would take back fighters only if the suspects have consular access.

Britain last month revoked the citizenship of a teenager who had left London when she was aged 15 to join Islamic State in Syria.

The case of Shamima Begum highlighted the security, legal and ethical dilemmas facing European governments dealing with citizens who had sworn allegiance to a group determined to destroy the West.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and their Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners have agreed a plan to strip some Germans who fight for the Islamic State militant group of their citizenship, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said on Monday.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and their Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners have agreed a plan to strip some Germans who fight for the Islamic State militant group of their citizenship, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said on Monday. More than 1,000 Germans have left their country for war zones in the Middle East since 2013 and the government has been debating how to deal with them as US-backed forces are poised to take the last patch of territory from Islamic State in Syria. About a third have returned to Germany, another third are believed to have died and the rest are believed to be still in Iraq and Syria, including some detained by Iraqi forces and US-backed fighters in Syria. An Interior Ministry spokeswoman told a news conference that three criteria must be met to allow the government to denaturalise Germans who take up arms for the Islamist group. Such individuals must have second citizenship and be adults. They would be stripped of their citizenship should they fight for Islamic State after the new rules come into effect. The compromise ended a dispute over the issue between conservative Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and SPD Justice Minister Katarina Barley. US President Donald Trump last month urged Britain, France and Germany to take back more than 800 captured Islamic State fighters and put them on trial. Germany said it would take back fighters only if the suspects have consular access. Britain last month revoked the citizenship of a teenager who had left London when she was aged 15 to join Islamic State in Syria. The case of Shamima Begum highlighted the security, legal and ethical dilemmas facing European governments dealing with citizens who had sworn allegiance to a group determined to destroy the West.

Germany to strip Islamic State fighters of citizenship

US-backed fighters trucked out civilians from the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/operation-to-end-last-is-syria-pocket-hits-evacuation-snag-198904">last speck of the Islamic State group</a>'s dying "caliphate" in Syria on Friday, eager to press on with the battle to crush the jihadists.

More than four years after IS overran large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq, and declared a "caliphate", they have lost all of it but a tiny patch in the village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border.

More than 40 trucks carrying men, women and children left the enclave on Friday, AFP correspondents at a position of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces outside the village reported.

Most were women and children, their clothes caked in dust, but the passengers also included men with their faces wrapped in chequered scarves.

Women clung to the railings of the trucks, while the hair of younger girls blew in the wind, as they left the enclave in the second such large-scale evacuation in three days.

On the back of one of the trucks, three men covered their faces with their hands, apparently not to be caught on camera.

Asked what the situation was like inside IS's last scrap of territory, a young man replied: "Not good".

On the roof of one of the trucks, an old man with a thick white beard wearing a red and white checkered scarf on his head yelled down: "There is an ill man with us."

SDF spokesman Adnan Afrin said more than 2,000 people were estimated to still be inside the pocket, and more trucks were expected to bring them out.

'War or surrender'&nbsp;

Once the evacuations have ended, the jihadists will have to decide whether to continue defending the less than half a square kilometre (a fifth of a square mile) they still hold, he said.

"They will be faced with a choice: war or surrender," Afrin said.

Earlier on Friday, SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said he hoped civilian evacuations could be completed by Saturday.

The Kurdish-led SDF evacuated 3,000 people on Wednesday -- mostly women and children -- but trucks left near empty on Thursday.

Bali said that screenings had determined most of those evacuated on Wednesday were foreigners.

"The majority are Iraqi and from countries of the former Soviet Union, but there are also Europeans," he said.

David Eubank, the leader of the Free Burma Rangers aid group, said they included "many French women", as well as others from Australia, Austria, Germany and Russia, and one woman from Britain.

Human Rights Watch urged the SDF and the US-led coalition supporting it to make protecting civilians a priority.

"Witnesses described harrowing conditions in the last months, with lack of food and aid forcing them to eat grass and weeds to survive," it said.

Around 44,000 people -- mostly civilians -- have streamed out of IS's shrinking patch territory since early December, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Once the SDF have weeded out potential jihadists from each batch of new arrivals, civilians are trucked further north to Kurdish-run camps for the displaced.

They arrive "extremely hungry and dehydrated" and many of them require urgent medical care, the International Rescue Committee said.&nbsp;

The IRC said 69 people, mostly children, had died on the way to the Al-Hol camp or shortly after arriving in the past few weeks.

"Two-thirds of the deaths are of babies under one year old," it said, including one who died Friday during the six-hour drive.

US 'peacekeepers'

The battle for Baghouz is now the only live front in Syria's war, which has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions since 2011.

Any SDF victory would accelerate a planned withdrawal of American troops from Syria announced in December by US President Donald Trump.

Syria's Kurds have expressed fear that a full pullout would leave them exposed to a long-threatened attack by neighbouring Turkey.

But the White House said Thursday the US military will keep "a small peacekeeping group of about 200" in Syria after the withdrawal.

The Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria welcomed the move.

It is "very important to maintain stability and protect our region from the Turkish threats, and ensure that terrorism will not be back," foreign affairs official Abdulkarim Omar said.

IS once imposed its brutal ideology on an area roughly the size of the United Kingdom, attracting thousands from abroad.

But some of those foreigners have been killed, while the SDF holds hundreds more.&nbsp;

The Kurds have repeatedly urged their governments to take them back, largely without success.

Syria's Kurds have requested their repatriation, but foreign governments have been reluctant.

On Thursday, the father of Hoda Muthana, 24, sued to bring her home after the Trump administration declared she was not a US citizen.

Shamima Begum, 19, faced being left stateless after Britain revoked her citizenship, and Bangladesh, where her parents are from, said it not want her.

Beyond Baghouz, IS retains a presence in the vast Syrian desert, and continues to claim deadly attacks in SDF-held territory.

US-backed fighters trucked out civilians from the last speck of the Islamic State group's dying "caliphate" in Syria on Friday, eager to press on with the battle to crush the jihadists.

US-backed fighters trucked out civilians from the last speck of the Islamic State group's dying "caliphate" in Syria on Friday, eager to press on with the battle to crush the jihadists. More than four years after IS overran large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq, and declared a "caliphate", they have lost all of it but a tiny patch in the village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border. More than 40 trucks carrying men, women and children left the enclave on Friday, AFP correspondents at a position of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces outside the village reported. Most were women and children, their clothes caked in dust, but the passengers also included men with their faces wrapped in chequered scarves. Women clung to the railings of the trucks, while the hair of younger girls blew in the wind, as they left the enclave in the second such large-scale evacuation in three days. On the back of one of the trucks, three men covered their faces with their hands, apparently not to be caught on camera. Asked what the situation was like inside IS's last scrap of territory, a young man replied: "Not good". On the roof of one of the trucks, an old man with a thick white beard wearing a red and white checkered scarf on his head yelled down: "There is an ill man with us." SDF spokesman Adnan Afrin said more than 2,000 people were estimated to still be inside the pocket, and more trucks were expected to bring them out. 'War or surrender' Once the evacuations have ended, the jihadists will have to decide whether to continue defending the less than half a square kilometre (a fifth of a square mile) they still hold, he said. "They will be faced with a choice: war or surrender," Afrin said. Earlier on Friday, SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said he hoped civilian evacuations could be completed by Saturday. The Kurdish-led SDF evacuated 3,000 people on Wednesday -- mostly women and children -- but trucks left near empty on Thursday. Bali said that screenings had determined most of those evacuated on Wednesday were foreigners. "The majority are Iraqi and from countries of the former Soviet Union, but there are also Europeans," he said. David Eubank, the leader of the Free Burma Rangers aid group, said they included "many French women", as well as others from Australia, Austria, Germany and Russia, and one woman from Britain. Human Rights Watch urged the SDF and the US-led coalition supporting it to make protecting civilians a priority. "Witnesses described harrowing conditions in the last months, with lack of food and aid forcing them to eat grass and weeds to survive," it said. Around 44,000 people -- mostly civilians -- have streamed out of IS's shrinking patch territory since early December, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Once the SDF have weeded out potential jihadists from each batch of new arrivals, civilians are trucked further north to Kurdish-run camps for the displaced. They arrive "extremely hungry and dehydrated" and many of them require urgent medical care, the International Rescue Committee said. The IRC said 69 people, mostly children, had died on the way to the Al-Hol camp or shortly after arriving in the past few weeks. "Two-thirds of the deaths are of babies under one year old," it said, including one who died Friday during the six-hour drive. US 'peacekeepers' The battle for Baghouz is now the only live front in Syria's war, which has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions since 2011. Any SDF victory would accelerate a planned withdrawal of American troops from Syria announced in December by US President Donald Trump. Syria's Kurds have expressed fear that a full pullout would leave them exposed to a long-threatened attack by neighbouring Turkey. But the White House said Thursday the US military will keep "a small peacekeeping group of about 200" in Syria after the withdrawal. The Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria welcomed the move. It is "very important to maintain stability and protect our region from the Turkish threats, and ensure that terrorism will not be back," foreign affairs official Abdulkarim Omar said. IS once imposed its brutal ideology on an area roughly the size of the United Kingdom, attracting thousands from abroad. But some of those foreigners have been killed, while the SDF holds hundreds more. The Kurds have repeatedly urged their governments to take them back, largely without success. Syria's Kurds have requested their repatriation, but foreign governments have been reluctant. On Thursday, the father of Hoda Muthana, 24, sued to bring her home after the Trump administration declared she was not a US citizen. Shamima Begum, 19, faced being left stateless after Britain revoked her citizenship, and Bangladesh, where her parents are from, said it not want her. Beyond Baghouz, IS retains a presence in the vast Syrian desert, and continues to claim deadly attacks in SDF-held territory.

Syria force evacuates women, children from Islamic State holdout

The Islamic State group has killed 60 US-backed fighters in Syria who are battling to oust the jihadists from their eastern holdout of Hajin on the Iraqi border, a war monitor said Saturday.

IS late Friday dispatched suicide bombers as part of a counter-attack against the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights.

The SDF fighters, who are backed by US-led coalition air strikes, were killed overnight, the Observatory said.

In a statement on the Telegram messaging app, IS said it had attacked the village of Sousa late Friday and detonated a car bomb near the village of Al-Baghuza further south, down the Euphrates river.

The SDF last month launched an offensive against the jihadists in the Hajin pocket on the eastern banks of the Euphrates, in Deir Ezzor province.

IS has staged a bloody fightback.

Since September 10, 270 SDF fighters and 496 IS jihadists have been killed in the offensive, the Observatory says.

The coalition estimates that 2,000 IS fighters remain in the Hajin area.

Last week, the Observatory said coalition air strikes had killed 41 civilians in Sousa, 10 of them children, on October 18 and 19.

But the coalition said it had targeted an IS command post on October 18, and denied carrying out any strikes in the area the following day.

IS overran large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate" across land it controlled.

But the jihadist group has since lost most of that territory to various offensives in both countries.

In Syria, its presence has been reduced to parts of the vast Badia desert and the Hajin pocket.

Syria's war has killed more than 360,000 people since it erupted in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

The Islamic State group has killed 60 US-backed fighters in Syria who are battling to oust the jihadists from their eastern holdout of Hajin on the Iraqi border, a war monitor said Saturday.

The Islamic State group has killed 60 US-backed fighters in Syria who are battling to oust the jihadists from their eastern holdout of Hajin on the Iraqi border, a war monitor said Saturday. IS late Friday dispatched suicide bombers as part of a counter-attack against the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human rights. The SDF fighters, who are backed by US-led coalition air strikes, were killed overnight, the Observatory said. In a statement on the Telegram messaging app, IS said it had attacked the village of Sousa late Friday and detonated a car bomb near the village of Al-Baghuza further south, down the Euphrates river. The SDF last month launched an offensive against the jihadists in the Hajin pocket on the eastern banks of the Euphrates, in Deir Ezzor province. IS has staged a bloody fightback. Since September 10, 270 SDF fighters and 496 IS jihadists have been killed in the offensive, the Observatory says. The coalition estimates that 2,000 IS fighters remain in the Hajin area. Last week, the Observatory said coalition air strikes had killed 41 civilians in Sousa, 10 of them children, on October 18 and 19. But the coalition said it had targeted an IS command post on October 18, and denied carrying out any strikes in the area the following day. IS overran large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a "caliphate" across land it controlled. But the jihadist group has since lost most of that territory to various offensives in both countries. In Syria, its presence has been reduced to parts of the vast Badia desert and the Hajin pocket. Syria's war has killed more than 360,000 people since it erupted in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

Islamic State group kills 60 US-backed fighters in eastern Syria: Monitor