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Syrian rebels begin operation isolating Raqqa
[ARA News] Damascus – The US-led coalition has launched a new military operation in northern Syria aimed at isolating the ISIS-held city of Raqqa. The coalition started “laying the groundwork” for the operation, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Tuesday.“We have already begun laying the groundwork for our partners to commence the isolation of Raqqa,” Carter said, in reference to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and other allied groups. This comes as the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Iraqi Army troops, backed by the US-led coalition, continued military operations against ISIS in Mosul, in northwestern Iraq, for the second week. Raqqa is ISIS’ de facto capital in Syria, while Mosul is the group’s de facto capital in Iraq. As the joint Iraqi-Kurdish assault on Mosul has intensified, ISIS started to fortify its headquarters in Raqqa. “Today we resolved to follow through with that same sense of urgency and focus on enveloping and collapsing ISIS’ control of Raqqa,” Carter said. Carter and ministers from 12 other countries attended talks in Paris on Tuesday. “There will be some simultaneity to these two operations [in Mosul and Raqqa],” the US Defense Chief said earlier on Sunday. In the meantime, ISIS has started to tighten its security measures in the city of Raqqa since last Wednesday. According to eyewitnesses and activists, the extremist group has imposed a curfew in the city centre, installed new checkpoints and erected concrete road blocks. There has also been a two-week-long state of alert amongst ISIS jihadists. “ISIS erected barriers between major districts of Raqqa city,” media activist Abdulkarim al-Yousef told ARA News in Raqqa. “New security checkpoints have been installed across the city, including near the al-Naeem Roundabout, al-Muhafaza Square, Saad Bin Muaz Mosque and al-Zedan Square.” Posted by: badanov 2016-10-26 |
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