Islamic State relatives escape in northern Syria
Turkish forces are advancing, more U.S. troops are withdrawing and scores of relatives of Islamic State fighters have escaped.
The chaotic situation in northern Syria escalated at the weekend and heading into the fray - these young Kurds.
The SDF fighters graduated from their training on Saturday (October 12) and are now heading to the front-line.
As they head towards the battle other soldiers are moving away.
The Turkish offensive was triggered after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew some of the troops deployed to support Kurdish forces in the fight against IS.
On Sunday (October 13) Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the US is poised to evacuate all remaining troops - around 1,000 soldiers.
That's amid Turkey's ongoing offensive, which Esper said was "untenable" for U.S. forces.
On Sunday Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said his troops and Turkish backed rebels had taken control of Ras al Ain and that the border town of Tel Abyad had been besieged.
The operation will be expanded he added, to Kobani in the west and Hasaka in the east.
Turkey's stated aim is to create a safe zone to resettle many of the 3.6 million Syrian war refugees it has been hosting.
That zone will extend around 30 to 35 kilometers into northern Syria where the SDF controls swathes of territory once part of Islamic State's caliphate.
The YPG, which Ankara calls a terrorist group, is the main fighting force of the SDF, which has been keeping thousands of jihadists in jail and tens of thousands of their family members in camps.
The Turkish operation raised international alarm over the possibility of those IS militants escaping, and on Sunday those fears were in part realized.
The border region's Kurdish-led administration said Turkish-backed rebels had attacked a camp at Ain Issa and that 785 IS-affiliated women and their children had escaped.
A war monitor put the number closer to 100.
