IS executes 2,900 civilians during ‘caliphate’: SOHR

Damascus, May 30: A total of 2,900 civilians have been killed since the Islamic State (IS) announced its “caliphate” in Syria, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Tuesday. The civilians are among 5,170 people, including rival militants and army personnel, the IS militants killed in Syria since declaring it’s self-styled caliphate in June, 2014, said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Xinhua reported.

The Observatory said that the IS control in Syria has shrunk to 3 percent after losing large swathes of areas to the Syrian army and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). IS now controls scattered pockets in the eastern countryside of Homs province, the southeastern desert of Deir al-Zour province, an area on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River and a pocket in the northern countryside of Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria. IS also controls pockets in the Yarmouk area in the countryside of the southern province of Daraa as well as pockets in the southern countryside of Hasakah province in northern Syria.

Despite losing areas measuring tens of thousands of kilometers, IS continues to shade blood in Syria, said the Observatory, adding that the group carried out executions of civilians and rival fighters over the past two months. IS was recently defeated in southern Damascus when the Syrian army captured its latest strongholds in the Hajar al-Aswad and Yarmouk Camp.

The SDF has also recently launched an offensive on IS east of Euphrates, but the Observatory said the SDF failed to storm Hajin area, the last IS stronghold east of Euphrates and moved the military operation to the southern countryside of Hasakah. (IANS)