SDF closes in on Raqqa
Kurdish forces say they have enough fighters to retake Islamic State’s capital with help of U.S.
BEIRUT — The main Syrian Kurdish force fighting Islamic State militants in northern Syria said Friday that it has enough fighters to take the extremists’ de facto capital, Raqqa, with the help of the U.S.-led coalition — remarks that reflect a veiled warning to Ankara and also to rival, Turkey-backed opposition forces making headway toward the city.
The comments by Cihan Sheikh Ehmed, the spokeswoman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), came as U.S. troops are playing a bigger role on the ground in the battle to capture Raqqa, in northern Syria.
Gen. Joseph Votel, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, signalled Thursday that there will be a larger and longer American military presence in Syria to accelerate the fight against Islamic State and quell friction within the complicated mix of warring factions there.
The SDF spokeswoman said their numbers are increasing with more residents of newly-liberated areas from IS joining the ethnically-mixed force, which has been the most effective group on the ground in Syria in the battle against IS.
“We have enough forces to liberate Raqqa with the help of the coalition,” Sheikh Ehmed said, adding that their troops received intelligence that Islamic State is moving some of its leaders outside the city and are digging tunnels in preparation for intense street battles — much like those underway in neighbouring Iraq where the Iraqi forces, backed by the U.S.-led coalition, are fighting to rout Islamic State from the western part of the city of Mosul, the extremists’ last urban stronghold in Iraq.
The spokeswoman’s remarks are likely to anger Turkey, which has insisted that Syrian opposition fighters backed by Ankara should lead the offensive on Raqqa rather than the SDF, which is dominated by the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG. Turkey has declared the YPG a terrorist organization and considers it to be linked to its own home-grown Kurdish insurgency.
As the SDF advances in areas close to Raqqa, U.S.-led coalition aircraft pounded areas in the city and its outskirts, according to the U.S. Central Commander and Syrian opposition activists.
The U.S. command said 13 strikes engaged targets including eight islamic State tactical units, four vehicles, a fighting position and an Islamic State headquarters near Raqqa.
Also Friday, Turkey’s military said Turkish troops and Turkeybacked Syrian opposition forces have killed 71 Syrian Kurdish fighters in northern Syria this week. The operations are part of Turkey’s months-long incursion into its war-torn neighbour in a push against Islamic State but also in an effort to restrict the U.S.-backed SDF.
Syria blasted Turkey over its intervention in the country and support for opposition forces trying to remove President Bashar Assad from power, saying it has killed thousands, and called on the UN Security Council to press Ankara to withdraw its troops.
Friday’s statement came a day after Syria’s state media reported that Turkish troops shelled Syrian army positions north of the country, killing and wounding several troops.
SDF fighters have been on the offensive in the Raqqa area since November and have closed major supply roads used by IS. They have captured large areas from IS since then under the cover of airstrikes of the U.S.-led coalition.