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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syrian Democratic Forces launch battle for Raqqa |
| 2016-11-07 |
| [ARA News] Tel Abyad – The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday announced the launch of an operation to liberate Raqqa from Islamic State’s (ISIS) militants. “To our people in Raqqa city, we, in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), announce the start of an extensive operation to liberate Raqqa and its countryside from the grip of ISIS terrorists. ISIS declared it a capital for their alleged caliphate, but the city will be free of their terrorism soon” the Kurdish-led SDF said in a statement. The US-backed SDF has established a new operations room to coordinate the battle for Raqqa against the Islamic State (ISIS). “On November 5th, the SDF established a new operations room known as the Euphrates Wrath to intensify coordination between the various military factions participating in the battle for Raqqa.” “On this occasion, we assure the democratic forces in the world, our great Syrian people and peoples of the region that this operation will be proceeded strictly till its goal is met in isolating the capital of world terror, then bringing it down. We will be victorious in this decisive battle like we overcame in Kobane, Tel Abyad, al-Hasakah, al-Hawl, al-Shaddadi and Manbij,” the SDF said. Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), both members of the SDF, are expected to play a main role in the Raqqa operation. “The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is leading this operation with an effective participation from the YPG and YPJ factions, and in cooperation with the US-led coalition,” the SDF leadership said on Sunday. The forces also called for a regional and international support in the battle for Raqqa. “We call on the regional and international powers, who have already suffered from ISIS terrorism, to participate by providing support to our forces, whether logistic or political support. We also appeal to the international community to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Raqqa, who’ll be soon freed from ISIS grip.” Furthermore, the SDF demanded civilians of being cautious regarding a possible use of human shields by ISIS. “We also call on our people in Raqqa to stay away from ISIS headquarters, which will be direct targets for the SDF and the coalition. We appeal to the civilians to head to secure locations, and to support our operation, the Battle for Raqqa.” In the meantime, the US Defence Secretary Ash Carter welcomed the operation. “I welcome today’s announcement by the SDF that the operation to free Raqqa from ISIS’ barbaric grip has begun. The effort to isolate, and ultimately liberate, Raqqa marks the next step in our coalition campaign plan,” US Defense Ash Carter said in a statement on Sunday evening. “As in Mosul, the fight will not be easy and there is hard work ahead, but it is necessary to end the fiction of ISIL’s caliphate and disrupt the group’s ability to carry out terror attacks against the United States, our allies and our partners. The international coalition will continue to do what we can to enable local forces in both Iraq and Syria to deliver ISIL the lasting defeat it deserves,” he said. Earlier the Pentagon, has withdrawn a controversial request to provide direct arms shipments to the YPG, the Washington Post reported. According to US officials, consideration of the weapons was deferred because initial plans to encircle the city by taking control of surrounding villages and access routes would not require additional weaponry and because conflicts with Turkey remain unresolved. Nicholas Heras, a Washington-based Middle East researcher at the Centre for a New American Security, told ARA News that the People’s Protection Forces (YPG), the Kurdish component will most likely not receive weapons. The US-led Coalition has likely promised to replenish the SDF Arab units with arms and ammunition, but stopped short of making that guarantee to the Kurdish YPG units. “I don’t think the outcome of the battle to retake Raqqa hinges on whether the YPG receives weapons directly or wearing its Syrian Democratic Forces hat,” Amberin Zaman, Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told ARA News. “What matters here is the political aspect of any arms transfer. Will it be packaged as initially envisaged under legislation that covers assistance to foreign militias fighting on the side of the US. Had that gone through it would have put an institutional stamp on the US YPG relationship which is what the YPG wants more than anything,” she said. “They want to carry this tactical alliance with the US against ISIS to a political and strategic level and that is why they are willing to take part in the Raqqa campaign even though it doesn’t serve their immediate interests which is to link the cantons but which the US for now at least is opposing,” she stated. The SDF said Raqqa city will be liberated with the aid of its people be it Kurds, Arabs, or Turkmen. Video report at the link More from Arab News AIN ISSA, Syria: US-backed Kurdish-Arab forces launched an offensive Sunday on the Daesh group’s de facto Syrian capital Raqqa, upping pressure on the jihadists who are already battling Iraqi troops in Mosul. The start of the assault by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) came as Iraqi forces fought inside Mosul for the third day running, with the jihadists putting up fierce resistance. The two cities are the last major urban centers under Daesh control after the jihadists suffered a string of territorial losses in Iraq and Syria over the past year. The US-led coalition battling Daesh is backing both assaults, hoping to deal a knockout blow to the self-styled “caliphate” the group declared in mid-2014. Lined up in crisp fatigues at an outdoor press conference, SDF commanders announced the start of the operation against Raqqa in Ain Issa, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the city. “The major battle to liberate Raqqa and its surroundings has begun,” SDF spokeswoman Jihan Sheikh Ahmed said. The operation, dubbed “Wrath of the Euphrates,” involves some 30,000 fighters and began on Saturday night, Ahmed said. SDF spokesman Talal Sello told AFP it would proceed in two phases, first seizing areas around Raqqa and isolating the city, then taking control of the city itself. SDF forces are advancing on three fronts, from Ain Issa and Tal Abyad to the north of Raqqa, and from the village of Makman to the east. Isolate, then liberate “The fight will not be easy, and will require accurate and careful operations because Daesh will defend its bastion knowing that the loss of Raqqa will mean it is finished in Syria,” Sello said. An AFP correspondent in Ain Issa saw dozens of SDF fighters heading on vehicles toward the front line. Driving the jihadists from Mosul and Raqqa has been the endgame since the US-led coalition launched air strikes against Daesh in the summer of 2014. The coalition has also provided training and deployed hundreds of advisers to work with Iraqi forces and select Syrian fighters, including the SDF. Sello said the alliance had received new weapons from the coalition for the Raqqa battle, including anti-tank missiles. Another SDF source said 50 US military advisers would be involved in the operation, particularly to guide air strikes. After it was seized by Daesh, Raqqa became the scene of some of the jihadists’ worst atrocities, from stonings and beheadings to the trading of sex slaves. Thousands of foreign fighters flocked there to join Daesh, and US officials have described it as the nerve center for the group’s attacks abroad. In Washington, a US official confirmed the start of the operation to capture the stronghold. “We will first undertake an effort to isolate Raqqa to set the stage for an eventual assault on the city itself to liberate it,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. More complicated Last month, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the idea of simultaneous operations against Mosul and Raqqa “has been part of our planning for quite a while.” But the battle for Raqqa is far more complicated. After five years of civil war, Syria is divided into a patchwork of fiefdoms, with President Bashar Assad’s regime, Daesh and a range of opposition forces all holding territory. Dominated by the powerful Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the SDF has in recent months flushed Daesh out of swathes of territory in northern Syria, including the flashpoint town of Manbij in August. Washington has promoted the SDF as a key ally in the fight against Daesh, but the partnership is complicated by Turkey’s fierce opposition to the YPG. Ankara considers the militia a “terrorist” group, and in August began its own operation inside northern Syria, targeting both Daesh and the YPG. Sello said on Sunday that the SDF had “agreed definitively” with the United States “that there will be no role for Turkey or the armed factions allied with it in the operation” to capture Raqqa. General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, on Sunday made a previously unannounced visit to Ankara for talks with his Turkish counterpart, but no further details were immediately available. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #1 This is good - let's see if ISIS can fight on two fronts. |
| Posted by: Tennessee 2016-11-07 07:56 |