[Aljazeera] US-backed forces in Syria have breached the wall surrounding the Old City of Raqqa as they try to retake the city from the ISIL, the US Central Command said."Coalition forces supported the SDF advance into the most heavily fortified portion of Raqqa by opening two small gaps in the Rafiqah Wall that surrounds the Old City," Centcom said in a statement on Monday night, referring to the Syrian Democratic Forces.
US-backed fighters pierced Raqqa from the south for the first time on Sunday, crossing the Euphrates River to enter a new part of the Syrian city, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have spent months closing in on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS) group's stronghold and entered the city's east and west for the first time last month.
In the fighting at the wall, US Central Command said the Kurdish-led SDF fighters faced heavy resistance from ISIL fighters, who used the wall as a combat position and planted mines and improvised explosive devices against advancing US-backed soldiers.