About 300 families of Islamic State jihadists have fled its stronghold of Raqqa in the past 24 hours as rival forces advance on the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
According to the Observatory, 300 families of jihadists have left Raqqa since early Friday morning to find shelter in the provinces of Deir Ezzor in the east of the country and in Hama in the west of Syria.
According to Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman, the jihadist families used the only remaining escape routes, namely boats to cross the Euphrates River.
Turkish-backed Syrian rebels, a U.S.-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab forces, and Russian-backed Syrian government forces continue to advance toward Raqqa, reports AFP.
The US-led coalition announced on Thursday that it has moved more US military forces to Syria in a bid to hasten the defeat of the so-called IS in Raqqa.
It is about 400 soldiers who will stay in Syria for a certain period, specified the spokesman of the coalition, colonel of the American Air Force John Dorian.
There are already 500 American soldiers in Syria.
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