Three hundred families of "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) fighters fled the Syrian city of al-Raqa over a 24-hour period, AFP reported Saturday (March 11th).
On Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that "300 families of foreign fighters of ISIL have left the city of al-Raqa since dawn Friday to take refuge in the province of Deir Ezzor to the east and Hama to the west".
Al-Raqa is the target of advancing Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an Arab-Kurd opposition alliance, and Syrian regime and allied forces.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said that ISIL families were using the only remaining escape route, on boats across the Euphrates River to the south.
