DAMASCUS, March 11 (Xinhua) -- At least 50 people were killed on Monday by U.S.-led airstrikes on the last Islamic State (IS) stronghold in eastern Syria, state news agency SANA reported.
The airstrikes targeted the IS-held area in the town of Baghouz in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province.
The report said most of the deaths were women and children.
This comes as the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced Sunday resuming the fight against the last redoubt of the IS in eastern Syria after a deadline given to the IS and their families.
The deadline for the surrender of the IS militants and their family members ended on Sunday afternoon, after which the operation of the SDF resumed in the farmlands of Baghouz.
It's worth noting that the SDF declared the last push against the IS earlier in March, but later put it on hold to allow the IS and their family members to leave.
Thousands of people, including the IS militants, left while others are still in the area refusing to surrender.
The Kurdish-led SDF with the backing of the U.S.-led coalition has launched a crushing offensive to eliminate the IS from the eastern Euphrates River region in eastern Syria since September last year.
The IS militants are now besieged in an area fewer than 2 square km in the farmlands of Baghouz.
