You've likely seen the picture by now of dozens of women in head-to-toe black burkas, lined up in the middle of the desert. They were among the 2,000 people who escaped or surrendered as Kurdish forces press forward, cornering ISIS in its last moments.
What you probably didn't hear, what hasn't been widely reported, is that the women were chanting, "Islamic State will stay, Allah is great, Allah is great, Islamic State will stay."
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Reuters quoted a 30-year-old woman who called herself Umm Fatima and who said her "one-month-old baby, who was sick, died overnight in the reception area from the cold."
"I didn't want to leave except to treat her," she said, then cursed the SDF and said: "The Islamic State will remain and expand, God willing," and walked away.
According to Reuters:
Scenes of surrender, humiliation, and anger highlighted the desperation of the armed group as its last major bastion in Syria teeters on the edge of collapse. The evacuations came as the US-backed force slowed its latest push on Baghouz, east of the Euphrates River, to allow people to leave the enclave. Angry civilians evacuating from Baghouz chanted "Islamic State will remain" - underscoring the defiance of ISIL fighters and their supporters even as their defeat looms.
Kurdish forces also captured 400 ISIS fighters who were trying to escape the territory.
The war against ISIS isn't over yet.
A senior commander in the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said "There are a large number of fighters who are inside and do not want to surrender."
