The Islamic State’s “capital” fell on Tuesday after US-backed forces declared victory in the Syrian city where the jihadist group plotted attacks on the West.

Brig Gen Talal Silo, the spokesman for the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, said that clashes with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) fighters in Raqqa had stopped, ending their three-year reign of terror in the city.

“The SDF is now in control of the former capital of terrorism," Mr Sllo told the Daily Telegraph. “A formal declaration will be made from the city soon, after the clearing operations end. Raqqa is still full of landmines.”

The fighters limped out from their final redoubt in Raqqa’s central hospital on Tuesday and onto waiting buses.