Isis defeated in their Syrian capital Raqqa

Isis defeated in their Syrian capital Raqqa
Tue Oct 17, 2017 14:21:21

U.S.-backed militias raised a flag inside Raqqa stadium on Tuesday, a Reuters witness said, as a four-month battle to take Isis' Syrian capital came to an end.

(reuters) -- The fighting was over but the alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias was clearing the stadium of mines and any remaining hiding militants, said Rojda Felat, commander of the Raqqa campaign for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Isis was now completely cleared from the city.

The fall of Raqqa city, where Isis staged euphoric parades after its string of lightning victories in 2014, is a potent symbol of the jihadist movement's collapsing fortunes. From the city, the group planned attacks abroad.

The SDF, backed by a U.S.-led international alliance, has been fighting Isis inside Raqqa since June.

Isis has lost swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq this year, including its most prized possession, Mosul, and in Syria it has been forced back into a strip of the Euphrates valley and surrounding desert.


 

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