(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 26 people killed on Tuesday in the US-led coalition airstrikes on Raqqa city as fall of the de facto capital of the Islamic State seemed to be imminent, local monitoring groups said.
Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently reported that 16 civilians mostly women and children had been killed in the US-led airstrikes on al-Badu neighborhood. 10 more people who feld Palmyra city to Raqqa were also killed in the coalition's airstrikes.
Local source told Zaman al-Wasl the remaining ISIS fighters will withdraw from Raqqa over a deal with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
ISIS fighters want to withdraw with their families and weapons to al-Mayadeen or Albu Kamal town at the Iraqi border, sources said as the negotiations still underway.
The US-led coalition said Wednesday that it won't accept a negotiated withdrawal, AP reported.
The remarks by coalition spokesman, Col. Ryan Dillon, came as coalition allies were working out ways to safely evacuate an estimated 4,000 civilians who remain trapped in the city.
The coalition has said ISIS militants are holding some civilians as human shields, preventing them from escaping as the fight enters its final stages. The city, on the banks of the Euphrates River, has been badly damaged by the fighting, and activists have reported that over 1,000 civilians have been killed there since June.
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