E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Kurdish forces just three kilometers from Raqqa as ISIS loses control of key highway
[ALMASDARNEWS] On Wednesday, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) scored a massive advance in an ISIS-held region directly east of Raqqa.

Amid a blitz US-backed offensive codenamed operation Euphrates Wrath (stage four), Kurdish units broke through a weak point in the jihadist defensive line on the outskirts of the picturesque provincial capital and liberates several villages from the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
Preluded by joint US and Kurdish shelling on the highly fortified ’Division 17th’ army base, the SDF launched a couple of diversionary attacks only to unleash the bulk of its seasoned fighters in a region little more than five kilometers east of Raqqa.

Over the past 48 hours, the YPG-led SDF have liberated the villages of Qaryat Abdallah, Dahr al-Abdul, Badr, Annadah, Tall Zaidan and Thoul Nail.

At midnight, festivities even erupted in Raqqat as Samra, an ISIS-held town only three kilometers from Raqqa city. Notably, represents the last town on the main road leading to Raqqa city’s eastern neighborhoods.

On a different axis, northwest of Raqqa, the SDF also imposed full control over the villages of al-Jaif and Mazraat al-Rasheed amid a massive ISIS collapse.

Heavy festivities continue as we speak with both sides inflicting dozens of casualties on the other.
Posted by: Fred 2017-05-18
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=488297