Rebels capture key Islamic State stronghold in Syria

BEIRUT — On the streets of Manbij, men rallied to protest the Islamic State group and women walked with their faces uncovered for the first time in over two-and-a-half years, hours after the militant group was pushed out of the northern Syrian city.

U.S.-backed fighters seized the key Islamic State stronghold late Friday after two months of heavy fighting that killed more than 1000 people and displaced thousands more.

The fighters also freed hundreds of civilians the extremists had used as human shields, Syrian Kurdish officials and an opposition activist group said.

The capture of Tal Abyad deprived the militant group of a direct route to bring in new foreign militants and supplies.

Manbij is important because it lies on a key supply route between the Turkish border and the city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State group’s self-styled caliphate.