U.S.-led warplanes bombed the north bank of the Euphrates River in eastern Syria on Friday to flush out holdout militants from the last sliver of their crumbling "caliphate."
Friday's bombardment ended two days of relative calm on the front line in the remote village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces had paused its advance while it combed a makeshift militant encampment, which it overran on Tuesday.
An SDF official who asked not to be named said warplanes of the U.S.-led coalition resumed strikes on suspected militant positions before dawn Friday.
Top SDF commander Jia Furat said his forces were engaging with the militants on several fronts while the coalition warplanes provided air support.
The U.S.-led coalition said the "operation to complete the liberation of Baghouz is ongoing."
"It remains a hard fight, and Daesh is showing that they intend to keep fighting for as long as possible," it said.
The SDF launched what it called its "final assault" against the militants' last redoubt in the village of Baghouz on Feb. 9.
Finally on Tuesday, they cornered diehard fighters into a few acres of farmland along the Euphrates River, after forcing them out of their rag-tag encampment of tents and battered vehicles.
The six-month-old operation to wipe out the last vestige of Daesh's once-sprawling proto-state is close to reaching its inevitable outcome, but the SDF has said a declaration of victory will be made only after they have completed flushing out the last tunnels and hideouts.
According to SDF spokesperson Kino Gabriel, hundreds of Daesh fighters, including some women, still remain on the outskirts of the militant encampment.
They are hiding along the bank of the Euphrates River as well as at the base of a hill overlooking Baghouz, he told AFP.
"In around one or two days, we will conclude military operations if there are no surprise developments," he said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Daesh holdouts were hiding in underground tunnels and caves in Baghouz.
SDF official Jiaker Amed said several militants want to surrender but are being prevented from doing so by other fighters.
"We are trying our best to wrap up the operation without fighting, but some of them are refusing to surrender," he said. AFP
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