Spectacular victories in Rojava for the growing SDF revolutionary democratic coalition with three separate offensives.

The last and biggest ISIS base north of Raqqa in Tal as-Salam has been totally taken over, completing the 1st phase of the campaign in record time. Now SDF plan to encircle the ISIS capital and are convening a new multi ethnic, multi religion Raqqa Council to run it, ( as worked so well in Manbij which also is not a Kurdish city) if it can be conquered..

Meanwhile in ISIS held Al Bab area to the west the dramatic situation is changing hourly as The SDF breaks through from east and west and Turkey attacks from the north to block them seizing Al Bab city.

Latest new s, 17th Nov is that the US coalition now ‘withdraw support from the ‘unilateral’ Turkish offensive’, preferring the SDF backed non sectarian Al Bab Council to a Turkish imposed jihadi regime which would be partly just ISIS ‘wearing different hats’. ( The strong suspicion is that IS have ceded large parts of its territory to the FSA and that both forces ”have their wages paid indirectly by the Turkish dictator’.) the non sectarian Al Bab Council will take over if the SDF win.

The Turkish army air force and their FSA mercenaries are at the gates of Al Bab, a city of 100,000. It remains to be seen whether Turkey will be forbidden from bombing the city ( recently Syria promised to shoot down their jets, yet they have been allowed to bomb Al Bab until now.) or if Turkey has an agreement with their IS ex allies to cede the city. IS has long ago moved their main forces and families from the city.

From the east the SDF are trying to liberate a Kurdish town Qabasin held by Islamic State before the Turkish army and FSA who are expanding south (and attacked the Kurds there before). But IS are entrenched in Qabasin so the SDF surrounded the town ( 16th Nov) and surged on west to try and save Al Bab city from the Turks. Bringing them to just 12 kms from a historic meet-up of Kobane and Efrin cantons, with the Turks and FSA blocking their way.

From the west the SDF from Efrin have also made a breakthrough in the last few days after a whole series of bloody battles, victories and defeats against ISIS the FSA, Turkish army and Syrian army, on 17th Nov, taking Halisah and ten more villages from Islamic State