23/08/2017 Al-Masdar News (registration)
By Andrew Illingworth –
BEIRUT, LEBANON (10:00 A.M.) – The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have advanced into and taken control of Raqqa city’s central districts, thoroughly ejecting ISIS militants from them.
After some ten weeks of combat operations inside Raqqa against ISIS, Kurdish-led fighters finally assumed control over the city’s innermost neighborhoods – an area generally referred to as the Old City.
Late yesterday, reports came in that the SDF had pushed ISIS militants out of the al-Rasheed and Mansour suburbs. In doing so, Kurdish-led troops secured the entirety of the Old City area and de facto gained control over the heart of Raqqa.
The Old City was the most heavily defended area inside Raqqa, with ISIS launching ceaseless counterattacks and car bombs against Kurdish-led forces over the last two-and-a-half months in order to try deter their advances.
With this most recent victory by the SDF, Islamic State militants in Raqqa have now been confined to the city’s northern and western districts.
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