A fighter from the SDF tries to communicate on a radio amid the rubble of a damaged street in Raqqa this month Reuters Reuters
ABC News: 'End in sight' in campaign to retake Raqqa from ISIS, says top diplomat
It began on the 73rd anniversary of D-Day -- the U.S.-led Allied invasion of Normandy, France during World War II -- and now, less than four months later in ISIS's self-declared capital, "the end is now in sight," according to a top U.S. diplomat.
The fight for Raqqa, Syria, has been bloody and prolonged, but Brett McGurk, the special presidential envoy to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, said Friday that the terror group is down to its last three neighborhoods in the north-central part of the city.
"It is a matter of time until the operation in Raqqa is finished," McGurk added.
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Update: US-backed force 'mopping up' last IS holdouts in Raqqa (The New Arab).
WNU Editor: Defense Secretary Mattis' annihilation strategy is apparently in play. The remaining ISIS fighters have asked for safe passage out of Raqqa, but U.S. and Kurdish-Arab fighters have said no. It looks like they want them dead.
Update #2: Once the eastern part of Syria has been liberated, the next big target will be Idlib .... After Raqqa: The Next Jihadist Stronghold in Syria (Patrick Hoover & Omar Kebbe, Jamestown).
A deal would be good.
ReplyDeleteA fair sized city is like a laager.
There is no other city for them to laager. Let them leave. Get them onto open ground.
Make the Highway of Death look like a playground.
Get them on open ground
"At the beginning of each winter ..., every warrior assembled at a specified location for a 3 month long hunt." - ISBN 978-0-7858-3057-3
Such a victory would belong to the SA and Iranians and be a huge propaganda boost. Such a hunt would be one sided. Still it would preserve Kurdish forces, save ammo, and allow time for rest, training & rearming for the next conflict.
Let the Russians run out of bombs.