US-Backed Syria Force Says ISIS Holding 1,000 Civilians

Damaged cars sit in an area recently retaken by U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from ISIS terrorists in Susah, Syria, on Feb. 16, 2019. Felipe Dana/AP Photo

AL-OMAR OIL FIELD BASE, Syria—ISIS terrorists are preventing more than 1,000 civilians from leaving a tiny area still held by the terrorist group in a village in eastern Syria, a spokesman for the U.S.-backed Syrian militia fighting the group said on Feb. 17.

“Regrettably, Daesh have closed all the roads,” Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), told The Associated Press, referring to ISIS by its Arabic acronym.