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US-backed Syrian forces seize '90pc' of Raqqa from IS
[DAWN] United States-backed fighters have seized 90 per cent of Raqqa from the krazed killer 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 Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... (IS) group, a monitoring said on Wednesday as they announced they were in the "final stages" of capturing the terrorists' Syrian stronghold. Under siege in the northern city for three months, IS is struggling to defend its one-time bastion under a barrage of air strikes by the US-led coalition battling the Death Eaters in Syria and Iraq. "Because of the heavy coalition air strikes, IS withdrew from at least five key neighbourhoods over the past 48 hours," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "This allowed the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to control 90pc of the city." The SDF is an alliance of Kurdish and Arab forces the coalition is backing in Syria with air strikes, equipment and advisers. IS pulled out of the north of the city and abandoned its grain silos and mills, and was now confined to the city centre, Abdel Rahman said. The SDF said its forces had mounted a "surprise attack" on IS in the city's north. Posted by: Fred 2017-09-21 |
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