Syrian Democratic Forces says it is entering final stages of campaign to capture the terror group’s de facto capital

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces has said its campaign to capture Raqqa from Islamic State is in its final stages and its fighters have seized 80% of the city.



The SDF said in a statement on Wednesday it had opened a new front against Isis on the northern edge of the city, the terror group’s de facto capital. It said the offensive was “a feature of the final stages of the Euphrates Wrath campaign, which is nearing its end”.

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The SDF, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, launched its offensive against Isis in Raqqa in June, backed by US-led airstrikes and special forces on the ground.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday that the SDF had taken more than 90% of the city, adding that the major remaining hurdle for the forces was a large concentration of mines in the area.

The Isis militants still in the city have nearly run out of food and munitions, the Observatory reported.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest SDF fighters walk along one of Raqqa’s badly damaged streets. Photograph: Rodi Said/Reuters

Isis is also battling two separate offensives in eastern Syria, launched by the SDF on one side and the Syrian army and its allies on the other in Deir ez-Zor province.

The Syrian army, backed by Russian and Syrian war planes, has made wide advances along the Euphrates’ western riverbank, the Observatory reported. Syrian troops also crossed to the eastern side of the river on Monday.

The SDF’s advances have been on the eastern bank of the river.

The convergence of the two rival offensives has increased tensions in Deir al-Zor. On Monday, the US-backed militia warned against any further Syrian army advances on the eastern riverbank.

On Tuesday, Russia’s defence ministry said the Euphrates had risen as soon as the Syrian army began crossing it. The only way that could have happened was if upstream dams held by the US-backed opposition had been opened, it said.

A fire at a large gas field known as Conoco raged through Tuesday night and into Wednesday, the Observatory said, after Syrian state media reported that the army was advancing towards it. Isis had fled the area, the Observatory said.

The hardline militants lost their main stronghold in Iraq, the city of Mosul, in July to Iraqi forces backed by the west.