Female commanders in the SDF, conducting the Raqqa operation, spoke to the ANF on the latest developments in the region.

Wrath of Euphrates Operation's SDF Operation Room Spokesperson Cihan Sheikh Ehmed and one of the commanders of the operation Klara Kobanê met with the ANF in Bedr village near Hamrat Nasra town, liberated following 3 days of clashes, and said they are drawing to a close and the good news will soon follow.

“IT’S RAQQA’S TURN”

The Hamrat Nasra town to the north of Raqqa was liberated by the SDF forces following three days of violent clashes. One day later, SDF Spokesperson Cihan Sheikh Ehmed visited the fighters who liberated Hamrat Nasra and made the following comments on the operation, congratulating the fighters who liberated the area:

“Our Wrath of Euphrates operation was launched on November 5, 2016. Now the fourth phase is underway.

In the time since, hundreds of villages, dozens of districts and towns, hundreds of hamlets and a civilian population that consists of hundreds of thousands of people were liberated from the gangs’ tyranny. Our forces achieved important milestones in a tough and meaningful struggle, and are now at the gates of the city. Of course we arrived at this point through heavy and significant losses.

The liberation of Hamrat Nasra after 3 days of clashes was a great source of morale for our people and our fighters. After this, now it’s time for the Raqqa city center.

THE BALANCE SHEET

Ehmed stated that the fourth phase of the operation was restarted on May 9 after a short break and gave an account of the 15 days of operation. Ehmed said the forces advancing from the west and the east covered significant ground and in the 15 days past, have achieved the following:

“Our forces advanced on the eastern and western fronts and achieved great success. The greatest gain in this phase for us was having few casualties. This is a great success. In the last 15 days, our forces liberated an area of 656 square kilometers. There are 30 villages and 76 hamlets in this area. In the last 15 days, 190 gang members were killed. 76 of their bodies were captured by our forces. 12 gang members were taken prisoner.”

Ehmed stated that the Turkish state aimed to prevent the Raqqa operation with their attack on Qereçox, but they continued on with the operation with faith, persistence and resolve and voided the attacks. She said the developments they achieved are historic steps, and continued: “We took historic steps and we continue to do so. We are achieving the impossible. That is why we were faced with Turkish state’s attacks in particular. Qereçox is the best example for these attacks. The goal of the Qereçox attack was to prevent the Raqqa operation and make it fail. But they couldn’t stop us. We kept our promise to our people. We arrived at the gates of Raqqa. We are now advancing towards Raqqa city center. From where we are standing now, you can see Raqqa. There is only one village between here and Raqqa, some 8 kilometers away.

We will keep the promise we made our people and we won’t stop until we fly the flag of the Syrian Democratic Forces in Raqqa. I say those days are close.”

“ADVANCING TOWARDS THE CITY CENTER”

Klara Kobanê, one of the Eastern Front commanders, stated that they continued to advance towards the city center, day and night, and that this has several connotations, military, political and otherwise.

Kobanê said them liberating Hamrat Nasra town after 3 days of violent clashes shows that ISIS is experiencing a strategic defeat. Kobanê stated that in the last 15 days, ISIS lost serious fighting power and continued:

“The fighting in the last 15 days shows that ISIS doesn’t have any serious fighting power left. But they try to continue their agression through various methods and tactics, for example they deliberately use the mine laying technique and they carry out attacks with bomb-laden vehicles. They have also utilized suicide bombers much more often in Tabqa and during the 4th phase. Just yesterday, 7 of them attempted suicide attacks in 3 separate positions in Baran village. Our fighters’ awareness and experience in war tactics against ISIS allowed us to get through the attacks without any loss, and all 7 suicide bombers were killed by our fighters.

At points throughout our front, we are very close to the city center borders. In some, we are 2 kilometers away, and 5 in others. This is due to the nature of the landscape.

On the path we are advancing on, there is only one village left, and that is the village of Raqqa Samra, which is part of the city.”

“OUR GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT IS SAVING THE CIVILIANS”

Kobanê said saving the civilians and transferring them to safe zones was always a priority and added: “In all phases of our operation, our priority was saving the civilians. We acted with the same priority in this phase as well. In the restarted fourth phase, we liberated many villages and hamlets. Alongside the settlements, we saved tens of thousands of civilians. We see this as a great accomplishment. But the real accomplishment will be liberating the homes and villages of the civilians we saved, and Raqqa city.”

“WE WILL AVENGE THE WOMEN”

Klara Kobanê stated that they had some core goals when they launched the operation to liberate Raqqa. She stressed that at the top of the list is to avenge the Êzidî women and continued:

“Because ISIS sold the Êzidî women they captured in Shengal in slave markets in Raqqa. We said we would avenge these women, and now we are advancing step by step to do just that. We are marching towards Raqqa with the vengeance and ambition of those women. Of course it’s not just that, we are avenging all women seen by ISIS as slaves as well as Shengali women.

The second and also important goal is to clear the Syrian lands from ISIS and any other gangs like them. As we advance towards Raqqa, declared by ISIS as the caliphate and the capital, we are closing in on this goal as well.”

“WE WILL GIVE GOOD NEWS”

Kobanê said they are almost at the final phase of their operation, and added: “And that is the Raqqa city center phase in the operation. So, our next target is Raqqa city center. And we will achieve a great victory there. Because we continue on with will, faith and resolve. We can give you the good news that we are approaching the finale in Raqqa.”