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Evacuations from the last pocket of territory held by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria have continued amid a standoff between the militants and the U.S.-backed forces besieging them.

More than 40 trucks carrying men, women and young boys were seen leaving the small patch of territory in the village of Baghouz, near the border with Iraq.

An estimated 300 IS militants are besieged in Baghouz, hemmed in by the Euphrates River and the U.S-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led militia spearheading the fight against IS following an intense push since September.

Thousands of civilians have evacuated the area in recent weeks and continue to do so at a slower pace in the past few days, delaying an announcement of the extremist group's territorial defeat in Syria.