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Just back from Deir ez-Zor, where thousands are fleeing the last remnants of the Isis caliphate. Over two days, we saw nearly 2,000 people leaving. They were in an awful condition, many had not eaten for days. 
We saw dozens of trucks filled with people. Babies were crying constantly, kids were eating flour from the bag. We met women from Iraq, Kazakhstan and Dagestan, as well as many Syrians.
Mostly women and children, but a few dozen men among them. They were separated and the men were questioned and fingerprinted.
We saw around seven men detained after initial questioning on suspicion of being Isis fighters. The process was overseen by Kurdish intelligence and US special forces.
The people escaping first have to make it across the dangerous frontline, then they walk for miles to reach a pick up point, before being taken away in trucks to these evacuation points to be checked.
After this, if they are not on the SDF database, they go to a holding camp for further investigation. Story coming soon in @Independent.
One local official said they were shocked at the number of civilians still fleeing from such a small area. More than 20,000 have fled in the past month, during which time the caliphate has been reduced to just two villages.
One thing to add, there's a perception that everyone living in these areas now is doing so willingly, because they support Isis or family are members. Impossible for me to judge veracity, but many said they fled there due to fighting in other areas and were stopped from leaving.
There were also others who made references to their family being fighters (without naming which group), but said they had no choice but to go with them. One woman had lost her husband, for example, and only had her son left for support.
