Fri Nov 18, 2016 09:26:51
Video uploaded to social media on Monday (November 14) appears to show the moment when the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) shots and destroys an Islamic State (ISIS / Daesh / ISIL) suicide car bomb driving towards them in the Northern Raqqa Governorate in Syria.
The footage purports to show the vehicle, said to belong to Islamic State and believed to be rigged with explosives, driving towards the camera location while being fired at.
The first missile seen in the video misses the car, but the second one hits it and destroys it in a large explosion.
SDF troops can be heard on the video celebrating the destruction of the vehicle.
A US-backed alliance of Syrian armed groups has launched an operation to retake the northern city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State (ISIS / Daesh / ISIL) in Syria.
The new offensive ratchets up pressure on Islamic State at a critical moment, with its fighters already battling an assault by Iraqi security forces on their remaining Iraqi stronghold in the northern city of Mosul.
The offensive was boosted on Wednesday (November 16) with the announcement by Kurdish YPG militia that it would pull its forces from the Syrian city of Manbij and withdraw east of the Euphrates River in order to participate in the campaign to liberate the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa, it said in a statement.
US special envoy Brett McGurk described the move as a "milestone", saying on Twitter that all YPG units would depart Manbij after training local units to maintain the city's security against Islamic State.
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