DAMASCUS, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) evacuated 150 people from the last Islamic State (IS)-held pocket in eastern Syria on Friday, a war monitor reported.
The SDF evacuated 150 people of the IS families from the last IS-held area in the eastern Euphrates region over the past few hours, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The UK-based watchdog group said most of the evacuees are Russian and Uzbek nationals. It added that with the latest evacuation, around 34,500 people and IS militants have surrendered themselves to the SDF since last December.
This comes as negotiations are underway between the U.S.-backed SDF and the IS group regarding the destiny of the group's leaders, who are besieged in an area of four sq km in the eastern Euphrates region.
The Observatory said the IS militants and their leaders are negotiating to have a safe exit to areas controlled by the group in the desert, while the SDF is still reluctant to accept.
The IS group still controls 4,000 sq km of the Syrian desert while the SDF is closing in on the group's remnants in the eastern Euphrates in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province.
The SDF with the backing of the U.S. forces has launched a wide-scale offensive in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour to dislodge IS militants since September.
