US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are insisting, as they have for months now, that the battle for the last ISIS village, Baghouz, is “as good as over.” These sort of predictions of imminent victory have been consistent, but never panned out.
Reports on the ground out of Baghouz sound much as they always do. Hundreds of ISIS fighters and their family members surrendered to the SDF, and an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 more civilians fled the tiny village.
That would sound like a battle just about wrapping up, except that tens of thousands of civilians have fled in recent weeks, and hundreds have surrendered several times as well.
The SDF admitted on Sunday they were shocked by the “never-ending” number of people pouring out of Baghouz, and this seems to be just a continuation of that. There are several estimates of how many thousands of people are left, but so far they’ve all proven wrong, with more and more people trickling out.