DAMASCUS, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Negotiations are underway in eastern Syria between the U.S.-led forces and the Islamic State (IS) group for the latter's withdrawal from its last redoubt, a war monitor reported Saturday.
Relative calm is prevailing eastern Syria as the negotiation for the withdrawal of the IS from the last four sq km it controls in the eastern Euphrates River is ongoing, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Britain-based watchdog group said the destination of the IS militants and their families is still unknown amid ongoing negotiations.
It said the U.S.-led coalition struck positions of the IS in the eastern Euphrates to exert more pressure on the group.
After losing the four sq km, the IS will still be in control of 4,000 sq km in the desert in eastern Syria.
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been on a crushing offensive to root out IS from the eastern Euphrates region since last September.
The SDF managed, with the help of the U.S., to defeat IS in much of the areas it had controlled in the eastern Euphrates area.
The Observatory said over 37,000 civilians, including tens of IS militants, have fled the last IS-held pocket to areas controlled by the SDF in the eastern Euphrates area since last December.
