YPG claims ‘major operation’ against Raqqa due within days
Spokesman for US-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria refuses to comment on claim by counterpart in Kurdish militia
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A US-backed operation by Syrian forces to capture Islamic State’s Syrian capital of Raqqa will start in the next “few days,” the spokesman for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said on Saturday.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias backed by the US-led coalition, has been encircling Raqqa since November, in a multi-phased campaign to drive Islamic State from the city where it has planned terrorist attacks on the West.
The assault on Raqqa will pile more pressure on Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate with the group facing defeat in the Iraqi city of Mosul and being forced into retreat across much of Syria.
“The forces reached the outskirts of the city, and the major operation will start... in the coming few days,” YPG spokesman Nouri Mahmoud told Reuters by phone.
He was confirming a report citing the spokeswoman for the Raqqa campaign, Jihan Sheikh Ahmed, as indicating a phase to storm Raqqa would start in the “coming few days.” The remarks made in an interview with a local media outlet were circulated by a Syrian Democratic Forces-run WhatsApp group.
A spokesman for the US-led coalition against Islamic State said it would not comment on the timeline for the next phase of operations to retake the Syrian city, located on the Euphrates River some 90 km. from the Turkish border.
The spokesman, Col. Ryan Dillon, said the SDF were “advancing closer and closer every day,” having moved to within 3 km. of Raqqa to the north and east.
To the west, the SDF were less than 10 km. away, he said in an email interview.
The United States said on Tuesday it had started distributing arms to the YPG to help take Raqqa, part of a plan that has angered NATO-ally Turkey, which is worried by growing Kurdish influence in northern Syria.
Turkey views the YPG as the Syrian extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has fought an insurgency in southeast Turkey since 1984 and is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Turkey and Europe.
The US-led coalition has said some 3,000 to 4,000 Islamic State fighters are thought to be holed up in Raqqa city, where they have erected defenses against the anticipated assault.
The US-led coalition has provided air support and special forces to help the SDF operations near Raqqa.
“The battle will not be easy,” Mahmoud said. “Of course [ISIS] has tunnels, mines, car bombs, suicide bombers, and at the same time it is using civilians as human shields.”
Once Raqqa falls, the Deir al-Zor province in eastern Syria will be Islamic State’s last major foothold in Syria and Iraq.
“Daesh [ISIS] will resist because Raqqa is its capital and if Raqqa goes that means the entire caliphate is gone,” Mahmoud said.
Also on Saturday, the Syrian Army said it had seized mountainous territory from Islamic State to the east of the road linking Damascus to Aleppo, helping to secure a critical lifeline for the government that has often come under ISIS attack.
The Syrian Army also said it had seized 22 villages and farms from ISIS near Maskaneh, the last major ISIS-held town in Aleppo province. The capture of Maskaneh will bring Russian-backed government forces to the border of Raqqa province, much of which is held by US-backed groups that are also fighting ISIS.
Government forces supported by Iranian-backed militias and the Russian Army have stepped up attacks on Islamic State on several fronts in recent weeks as a “de-escalation” deal brokered by Russia and Turkey has reduced fighting in western Syria.
The Syrian Army said it had captured the northeastern and central portions of a mountain range to the east of the Khanaser-Ithriya road. “It certainly widens the circle of security around the Damascus-Aleppo road,” a military source told Reuters.
The Khanaser-Ithriya road is the only government-controlled route linking Aleppo to other government-held cities of western Syria. Sections of the main highway to Aleppo, which runs through western Syria, remain in rebel hands.
The town of Maskaneh is located on the western banks of the Euphrates River in Aleppo province, some 10 km. from the provincial border with Raqqa. The next major urban center to the east is Tabqa, which was captured from ISIS by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in May.
The United States has so far ruled out cooperating with the Russian-backed government in the fight against ISIS in Syria, where the group has been forced into retreat by the separate campaigns being waged against it.