Forces breach wall protecting Raqqa

Major advance in drive to oust Islamic State

BEIRUT • U.S.-backed forces in Syria have breached the wall around Raqqa’s Old City, the U.S. military said on Tuesday, marking a major advance in the weeks-old battle to drive Islamic State militants out of their self-declared capital.

The U.S. Central Command said the coalition struck two “small portions” of the Rafiqah Wall, allowing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces “to advance into the most heavily fortified portion” of the city, bypassing booby traps and snipers. It said the strikes left most of the 2,500-metre wall intact.

The head of the Britainbased Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdurrahman, said the breaching of the wall was the most important development to date in the battle for Raqqa. He said three SDF units advanced toward the wall under air cover, breaking through the ISIL defences, and that heavy clashes were underway.

Footage provided by the SDF showed their fighters roaming Qasr al-Banat, a historic quarter inside Raqqa’s Old City. Another unit entered through the so-called Baghdad Gate, opening up a second front inside the Old City.

Brett McGurk, the top U.S. envoy for the international coalition against the Islamic State group, hailed the breach, saying it was a “key milestone” in the campaign to seize the ISIL stronghold.

The U.S. military said ISIL fighters were using the historic wall as a fighting position, and had planted explosives at several openings. It said coalition forces were making every effort to protect civilians and preserve the historic sites.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces launched a multi-pronged assault on Raqqa in early June, after securing the surrounding countryside. On Sunday, the U.S.-backed fighters crossed the Euphrates River on the southern edge of the city, completing its encirclement.

The Islamic State group seized Raqqa, their first major city stronghold in Syria, in January 2014. The city later became the de facto capital of ISIL’s self-proclaimed caliphate, stretching across lands controlled by the militant group in Syria and Iraq.

UN officials say 50,000 to 100,000 civilians remain in the city amid “dire” conditions. Those who try to escape risk being attacked by ISIL militants or forcibly recruited as human shields.

The U.S.-led coalition is providing close air support to the SDF, which has already driven the extremists from much of northern and eastern Syria. Several ISIL leaders were once based in Raqqa, where the group plotted attacks in Europe.