More than 6,500 people have now fled the war-torn village of Baghuz, in the north-east of the country, over the last 36 hours.
Many were ISIS brides reportedly ordered to leave the crumbling stronghold by battle-hardened husbands ready to be martyred in combat.
Others were believed to be cowardly cronies and supporters who have turned a blind eye to the terror group's deadly reign in the region.
The remaining militants – including many foreigners – are now preparing for their final fight in tunnels and caves surrounding the town.
"There are a large number of fighters who are inside and do not want to surrender," said one senior SDF commander.
However, American Colonel Sean Ryan, spokesman for the US-led coalition backing the SDF, said the international force had "learned not to put any timetables on the last battle".
Now with nowhere to run those jihadis that have stood their ground appear prepared to fight to the death in a war which has already left up to 550,000 people dead.
The depraved terror group and its so-called caliphate is on the brink of collapse after being bombarded with attacks by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Harrowing pictures from Sky News show malnourished children, who have not been cleaned or fed in days, at a camp four miles outside of Baghuz.
The kids, who are reportedly “close to death”, belong to ISIS extremists who have been killed or surrendered following the onslaught from the Kurdish-led SDF.
Figures suggest that 10,000 people have left Baghuz in the past two weeks.
Some chanted "Islamic State will remain" – underscoring the defiance of ISIS fighters and their supporters even as their defeat looms.
A group of women seen at a reception area in the desert – set up for screening purposes by the SDF – were rowdy, aggressive and defiant, praising ISIS and screaming angrily at journalists.
"Islamic State will stay, God is great, God is great, Islamic State will stay," they screamed.
Why is Baghuz so important to ISIS?
Islamic State redrew the regional map in 2014 when it declared a caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq.
But the jihadists steadily lost to various offensives and their main prizes – Syria’s Raqqa city and Iraq’s Mosul – fell in 2017.
The SDF, which the Kurdish YPG militia spearheads, advanced into Deir al-Zor after capturing Raqqa.
Its operations have focused on territory east of the Euphrates River.
To the west of the river, in territory otherwise under the control of the Syrian army and its allies, ISIS retains a foothold in Baghuz.
President Trump said in December he would pull all 2,000 American troops out of Syria, announcing the battle against ISIS almost over.
But Islamic State is still widely seen by the US military as a threat – if not on the scale it once was.
CHILDREN 'STARVING TO DEATH'
It was confirmed on Tuesday, that two of France’s best-known jihadists, Fabien and Jean-Michel Clain, were killed in strikes on the village.
Drones and jets have been bombing what is left of Baghuz, but the humanitarian pauses allowed trucks to be sent in to collect those wishing to surrender.
They were divided into fighters, who were sent to detention camps, and non-combatants, almost all women and children.
Non-soldiers were screened for weapons then put on trucks and ferried north to the al-Hawl and Roj displaced people’s camps in north-eastern Syria.
These camps are overflowing with tens of thousands of former Baghuz residents – many remain hardline ISIS supporters.
Al-Hawl is the camp where Brit ISIS bride Shamima Begum was discovered last month.
Meanwhile, 283 ISIS extremists have been released from prison in Syria after Kurdish authorities insist they had “no blood on their hands”.
The men were released over the weekend as a gesture of “cooperation, fraternity and clemency,” the SDF said.
A statement read: “They had lost their way … violated the traditions of the Syrian society and the law, and some of them had been deceived … but they remain our Syrian children.”
The SDF said those who were released were not involved in fighting but had administrative roles within the group, reports The Independent.
CHILD FIGHTERS SENT HOME
A handful of captive Yazidis have also been released from Baghuz but hundreds more may still be inside as human shields.
Others have converted to Islam and some brainwashed young boys have been reported to be fighting alongside the terror group.
A group of 11 rescued boys was taken back to Iraq and their home town of Sinjar at the weekend.
One lad told The Times on Saturday that he had been able to speak to his parents by telephone for the first time in four-and-a-half years.
The Russian defence ministry yesterday accused US-funded rebels of keeping tens of thousands of people in a refugee camp in southern Syria against their will.
The ministry said the rebels had prevented 35,000 Syrians from leaving the Rukban camp and that the fighters extorted money from those who wanted to leave.
Islamic State redrew the regional map in 2014 when it declared a caliphate across swathes of Syria and
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