Fighting in north Syria town after IS ignore offer to leave

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FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2012 file photo, a Syrian man holds bullets he picked from the wall of a damaged house in the town of Atareb, on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012. Syrian opposition activists said Sunday, July 17, 2016 that government forces and their allies have closed the only road leading into and out of rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo, besieging hundreds of thousands of people. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says government forces and members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group reached the Castello road Sunday, closing it and raising fears of a humanitarian crisis. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)

An opposition activist group and a Kurdish official say fighting is taking place in a northern Syrian town held by the Islamic State group after the militants did not respond to an offer to withdraw from the encircled town within 48 hours.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is reporting fighting in the town of Manbij Friday.

Members of the predominantly Kurdish U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces have been on the offensive in Manbij for weeks, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes.

On Thursday, the Manbij Military Council — part of the SDF — said IS fighters had 48 hours to leave the town with their “individual weapons,” saying this was their last opportunity to leave alive.

Sherfan Darwish of the SDF says the extremists did not respond to the offer.

From Agencies, Feature image courtesy AP

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