On 18 and 19 March , the SDF announced significant progress , capturing ISIL 's encampment and taking hundreds of wounded , surrendering militants into custody . The camp was the biggest remaining area held by ISIL in Al-Baghuz Fawqani , itself the last populated area the militant group held . SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali announced that the SDF had control of all of Al-Baghuz Fawqani , with the exception of a few pockets of resistance along the shores of the Euphrates river , where intermittent clashes continued with resisting ISIL fighters trapped between the captured camp and the river . The SDF also stated that more than 5,000 people could still be remaining in the areas yet to be captured by the SDF , as the vast tunnel network in Baghuz Fawqani made it difficult to estimate the precise number of people hiding there . Among the group that surrendered were suspects of the Manbij bombing that targeted U.S. soldiers in January 2019
Manbij bombing
2019 Manbij bombing
Battle of Baghuz Fawqani