Battle For The Syrian City Of Raqqa -- News Updates June 27, 2017

Washington Post: Mattis: After Raqqa, the Syrian battlefield will only get more complicated

MUNICH, Germany — As the fight against the Islamic State moves beyond its de facto capital in Raqqa, the Pentagon is readying itself for an increasingly complex battlefield in northern Syria, where U.S.-backed forces, pro-Syrian government troops and Russian jets will likely all be fighting near one another.

Speaking to reporters on his way to Germany on Monday to meet with European allies, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis spoke broadly about the U.S. military’s future operations against the Islamic State in the Euphrates River Valley, adding that it will take “more precision” to stave off any incidents between the disparate forces operating there.

“You have to play this thing very carefully,” Mattis said. “The closer we get, the more complex it gets.”

Mattis also acknowledged that the U.S. would continue to supply Kurdish forces in the north with weapons despite objections by U.S. ally Turkey. “When they don’t need them anymore we’ll replace them with what they do need,” he said.

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Battle For The Syrian City Of Raqqa -- News Updates June 27, 2017

US wants to steer clear of Syrian civil war: Mattis -- AFP
U.S. eyes arms for YPG fighters in Syria even after Raqqa's fall -- Reuters
Mattis says US may provide more weapons to YPG even after Raqqa's fall -- NRT
Inside Raqqa, ISIS militants' fast-shrinking terror capital -- CBS
US-backed SDF forces advance in Raqqa -- Al Jazeera
SDF make inroads into Raqqa -- Euronews
US-backed forces seize new district from IS in Raqqa -- AP
‘Significant resistance’ from IS in Raqqa as SDF advances -- Kurdistan 24
A quarter of Raqqa has been seized from ISIS -- Al Arabiya/AFP
ISIS Using Drones Rigged With Munitions To Attack Advancing Forces In Raqqa -- Newsweek
ISIS fighters are given 'passports to paradise' in a desperate bid to convince them they will be rewarded with virgins in the afterlife -- Daily Mail
ISIS wives escaping Raqqa regret joining group 'that deviated from Islam' -- Al-Arabiya