AL-OMAR OIL FIELD BASE, Syria (AP) — More than 300 Islamic State militants surrounded in a tiny area in eastern Syria are refusing to surrender to U. S.-backed Syrian forces and are trying to negotiate an exit, Syrian activists and a person close to the negotiations said Monday.
By SARAH EL DEEB
AL-OMAR OIL FIELD BASE, Syria (AP) — More than 300 Islamic State militants surrounded in a tiny area in eastern Syria are refusing to surrender to U. S.-backed Syrian forces and are trying to negotiate an exit, Syrian activists and a person close to the negotiations said Monday.
The development comes amid the Islamic State group’s last stand in the village of Baghouz, where militants are hiding among hundreds of civilians and preventing them from leaving. It also will likely further delay a declaration on IS’ territorial defeat that U. S.-backed Syrian forces were hoping to make last week.
A person familiar with the negotiations said the militants are asking for a corridor to the rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib, and demand that they be allowed to leave along with the evacuated civilians.
