Leaders of the Syrian Democratic Forces announced on Friday morning that the battle against IS militants in Syria's southeast is nearly over.

"The militants are surrounded, and in a month they will be eliminated," said a written statement shown on pan-Arab television stations.

They launched an offensive on September 10 against the last pocket of territory still in the hands of IS in southeast Syria, between the Euphrates and the Iraq border.

The US-led coalition has supported the offensive with repeated airstrikes.

In recent days, Syrian government sources and local sources spoke of two different "massacres" of civilians fleeing combat zones, attributing them to the coalition air force.

One month ago US President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of about 2,000 American troops from eastern Syria and said IS had been defeated.

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