The implosion of the jihadists' proto-state, which once spanned swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq, has left Western nations grappling with how to handle citizens who left to join IS. AFP correspondents saw at least 17 trucks carrying men, women and children out of the last patch of IS territory in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz.
Women wearing face veils, several children - including young veiled girls - and men were seen inside the vehicles. Their exact number and nationalities were not immediately clear, but an SDF spokesman said they included jihadists. Outside the pocket near the Iraqi border, SDF fighters watched as double-trailer trucks made their way across the arid plain dotted with grass and yellow flowers.
SDF spokesman Adnan Afrin said most of the hundreds who exited were civilians, but also included IS fighters. "Civilians and fighters from many nationalities have surrendered," he said, without naming specific countries. He added that "there was a group of IS fighters hidden among the civilians... but as far as we know, our colleagues have arrested them."
Fellow spokesman Mustefa Bali earlier said it was just a first wave of evacuations. "After many days of trying, we were able to evacuate the first batch today," he told AFP. Backed by US-led coalition air strikes, the SDF have trapped IS fighters in less than half a square kilometre (a fifth of a square mile) of Baghouz. The SDF have slowed their advance in recent days to protect civilians ahead of a final push to defeat the jihadists.