Kurdish-led forces say they have launched an operation to clear the final pocket of territory held by the so-called Islamic State group.

Key points: Hostages and civilians were evacuated from Baghouz, near the border of Iraq before the operation began

Hostages and civilians were evacuated from Baghouz, near the border of Iraq before the operation began Kurds of northern Syria have been fighting IS for seven years

Kurds of northern Syria have been fighting IS for seven years One local reports a sense of optimism as they "plan for a new life"

The operation began just after dusk around the village of Baghouz, on the Euphrates River near the border with Iraq.

Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Mustafa Bali said the operation began after the evacuation of civilians and hostages.

The Australian children of IS fighter Khaloud Sharrouf were believed to be inside Baghouz several days ago. It's not clear if they've come out in recent convoys of IS family members.

The operation has been welcomed by the battle-weary Kurds of northern Syria, who've been fighting IS in its various iterations for seven years.

At a war cemetery on the outskirts of the town of Qamishli, more than 700 headstones mark the graves of men and women killed fighting IS.

The headstones of Kurdish women who fought against Islamic State. ( ABC: Adam Harvey )

The graveyard seems too big for such a small place.

Najah Said comes to visit the grave of her son, Sivan.

"IS had taken a hill near here and they sent the special forces to retake it. Sivan went with them because he knew the area so well," she said.

After IS had been driven back, Ms Said visited the battlefield — and saw the bodies of foreign extremists.

"There was an American, an African, even someone from Japan."

The IS territory that once covered a vast stretch of Syria and Iraq has now been beaten back to territory around Baghouz.

IS families and some fighters have been coming out of Baghouz each day. The last evacuations took place just hours before Kurdish-led forces said the final operation had begun.

Ms Said said the home nations of these foreign fighters needed to take responsibility for the citizens who have done so much damage here.

A convoy said to be carrying women and children from Bagouz in Syria, the last IS stronghold. ( Supplied: Free Burma Rangers )

"The foreigners who are surrendering, they need to go back to their homes and get tried. We don't want anything to do with them," she said.

Thousands of women have been evacuated from Baghouz over the last few weeks, including at least one Australian — Zehra Duman.

Ms Said said she cannot fathom the mindset of IS wives.

"As a woman, I can't imagine how another woman could be living with a husband who is beheading people," she said.

"The Western women we see on TV, you see them being kind to cats and animals, and then you have foreign women who came to our country to take part in crimes against our people.

"I hope your country will take them back. It's been seven years we are having their pain, now they are in our hands, they are still dangerous.

"Every day over those seven years we used to lose people because of those dangerous people, so now it's time for everyone to take them back and to judge them in your countries."

In Qamishli itself, there's a wariness — plenty of IS fighters escaped before this last major battle, and sleeper cells conduct regular attacks and night operations.

But there's also, for once, a sense of optimism, explains Qamishli taxi driver Khalil.

"You ask me if I'm still frightened of IS. No. I'm not frightened of them. After seven years of war they're getting defeated in their last stronghold," he said.

"Now we can plan for a new life, having peace. Everybody should be making a family."

In the cemetery in Qamishli, the darkest years of the war against IS are marked by long rows of graves from 2014 through to 2017 when the Kurds helped beat them back from cities like Kobani and Raqqa.

The newest section, from 2018, is smaller — but there's still a dozen freshly dug graves, including that of two young women fighters.