WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. general in Iraq and Syria said on Thursday that a bus convoy of Islamic State fighters and their families seeking to reach a stronghold near the Iraqi border had turned and retreated deeper into Syrian-held areas after being blocked by air strikes.

“When I walked into this conference about an hour ago, the buses were on the move. They had turned and had driven back into regime held areas,” Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend told reporters via a video teleconference from Baghdad.

Townsend said forces from the U.S.-led coalition had not attacked the convoy but had struck every Islamic State “fighter or vehicle that has tried to approach that convoy.”