ISIS Fighters Surrendering in Siege of Group’s Last Syrian Enclave

Dozens of Islamic State fighters, along with women and children, surrendered to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Thursday in Baghouz, the Islamist group’s final enclave. According to a press statement from the SDF, a U.S.-backed coalition of militias formed to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, 15 ISIS troops were killed Thursday morning after they attempted to attack some of its fighters. The coalition has been pushing farther into the eastern Syrian enclave since Sunday in what has been described as the final effort to retake ISIS-held territory, which once spanned a third of Iraq and Syria. Nevertheless, many experts still see the Islamist group as a security threat capable of launching attacks from other locales, including through sleeper cells abroad and foreign fighters who have returned to their home countries.