U.S.-Backed Forces Have Agreed To Let Islamic State Fighters Leave Raqqa (Update)

Reuters: U.S.-backed SDF to let Syrian Islamic State fighters leave Raqqa

AIN ISSA, Syria/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian Islamic State fighters are set to abandon Raqqa in a withdrawal agreed with U.S.-backed Syrian militias that have them surrounded, a militia spokesman said on Saturday, as the jihadists’ defeat in their former Syrian capital edged closer.

Officials gave conflicting accounts on whether foreign fighters would also be leaving the city, where the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been battling to defeat Islamic State since June.

SDF spokesman Talal Silo said the foreign fighters would be left behind “to surrender or die”, without saying when the evacuation of Syrian fighters would take place.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: It's over.

More News On U.S.-Backed Forces Agreeing To Let Islamic State Fighters Leave Raqqa

Syria: Local militants evacuate as Raqqa battle nears end -- AP
Last remaining Isis fighters to leave Raqqa today as de facto capital falls after three years of jihadi rule -- The Independent
Syria war: Raqqa deal agreed to evacuate civilians -- BBC
Foreign, Syrian IS fighters to evacuate Raqa in deal: local official -- AFP
Evacuation deal for Isil fighters in Syria's Raqqa as city's capture nears -- The Telegraph
Deal reached to evacuate IS-held Raqqa as 100 soldiers surrender -- UPI
'Islamic State' facing imminent collapse in Syria's Raqqa -- DW

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials On The War Against The Islamic State

ISIS Targets Destroyed By American Air Strikes | Graphiq

Riyadh Mohammed, Fiscal Times: Is This the Beginning of the End of the Islamic State?

Just as the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS is making real progress on the ground, political chaos in Iraq is threatening to undermine those hard-fought gains.

Iraq’s ongoing political crisis is reaching another turning point. This week, several ministries are under siege in Baghdad by demonstrators who are trying to break into the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the American embassy and the Iraqi national government. Iraq now has a divided parliament with two speakers; one is supported by Shiite demonstrators, the other backed by Sunnis and Kurds.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials are trying to maintain recent momentum. On Monday in Baghdad, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced the deployment of 200 additional U.S. Special Forces to Iraq. He also added Apache helicopters and financial support of $400 million to fund the Iraqi Kurds. Secretary of State John Kerry said in Baghdad a week ago that ISIS’s days are numbered.

Read more ....

Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials On The War Against The Islamic State

Is Obama Getting Serious About ISIS? -- Max Boot. Commentary
Islamic State has erased the line between foreign and domestic policy -- Nader and Mousavizadeh, Reuters
How Isis shocked the world by capturing Mosul and advancing on Baghdad -- Patrick Cockburn, The Independent
The Islamic State Is Winning the Away Games -- Eric Schnurer, US News and World Report
What the West really knows about the state of ISIS -- Jonathon Gatehouse, Macleans
Islamic State fighters come from 70 countries, analysis shows -- AFP
We Are Going to War in Iraq Against ISIS -- Fred Kaplan, Slate