CABRERA: Now to Syria where the death toll among people fleeing ISIS's shrinking caliphate is on the rise. According to the United Nations, 97 people, two-thirds of them children under the age of 5, have either died trying to reach a refugee camp or died upon arrival. The U.N. reports thousands more are expected in the coming days. CNN's Ben Wedeman is in eastern Syria. And he was with a group of ISIS fighters as they surrendered their vanishing territory.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In defeat, gone is the bravado and the cockiness. The defeat, the men of the so-called Islamic State bow their head and cover their faces. The sharp contrast with the shrill triumphalism of ISIS's early days. "We couldn't fight any more so we surrendered," this man says. In the last few days, hundreds of ISIS fighters have surrendered to the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. Some have yet to give up. This video shot Wednesday of the group's last enclave shows men on foot and on motor bikes moving about in broad daylight. Vanquished ISIS may be, yet among a Palestinian refugee who grew up in Syria hasn't given up. He concedes defeat today, but not tomorrow. "Maybe the Americans rule the world today," he tells me, "but God Almighty promised the Muslims that in the end the world will be ruled by Islam." Their state is close to death, not their delusions. "Despite the war and all the problems imposed upon it, I think the Islamic state was a success," this man tells me. "No one gave it the chance to offer anything to the world." The state where men claim to rule in the name of God and women obeyed is on the brink of extinction. And the children and the women are paying the price. Caked in dust, dazed and confused, hungry and thirsty.
Fight to Defeat ISIS' Self-Declared Caliphate Grinding Down.