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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Raqqa is next |
| 2016-06-12 |
| [ARA News] KOBANE – US anti-ISIS envoy Brett McGurk confirmed that after liberating Manbij from the Islamic State (ISIS), the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) will focus on taking Northern Raqqa. In a press conference on Saturday, McGurk explained the ongoing operation in Manbij, and future operations to isolate Raqqa. “I just can’t put a timeline on any of the operations for Raqqa and Mosul. Raqqa will be extremely difficult, but I think we have a pretty good plan after Manbij to organize these local actors, Arab fighters to move down and to isolate Raqqa,” McGurk said about the SDF. ISIS spokesperson Mohammed al Adnani also confirmed three weeks ago that they could lose Raqqa, suggesting that ISIS was only expanding territory. “He actually said, you know, we might lose Raqqa, we might lose Mosul — which they will — and we might lose Sirte, but we’re still going to be around so come join us anyway. It’s kind of a very different message than what we were hearing, and I think it’s one that is not quite as appealing to their potential recruits. So the morale is plummeting, they’re executing their own fighters,” McGurk said. |
| Posted by:badanov |