US-backed force pierces into IS ‘bastion’ from west Mosul
Pentagon praises ‘very helpful’ Russia
BEIRUT, June 10, (Agencies): US-backed Syrian fighters broke into the western part of the Islamic State group’s stronghold Raqqa on Saturday, they and a monitor said, opening up a second front inside the northern Syrian city.
The Syrian Democratic Forces alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters has spent months tightening the noose on IS-held Raqqa and entered the city for the first time earlier this week from the east, backed by US-led coalition air strikes.
On Saturday, they pierced into Raqqa from the west, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.
“The SDF captured the western half of the Al-Sabahiya neighbourhood and are reinforcing their positions there,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
The forces then advanced north into the adjacent district of Al-Romaniya and seized part of it in the evening, Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Earlier, a statement from SDF’s Operation Wrath of the Euphrates said its fighters entered Al-Romaniya on Saturday and were locked “in fierce fighting inside the district”.
Held by IS since 2014, Raqqa emerged as a key hub for the jihadists’ operations in Syria, neighbouring Iraq, and beyond.
The SDF, which was formed in 2015, launched its campaign to capture Raqqa in November and chipped away at IS territory around the city’s north, west, and east.
In addition to holding part of Al-Sabahiya and Al-Romaniya, the alliance also controls Raqqa’s eastern neighbourhood of Al-Meshleb.
But the force has struggled to advance from the city’s north, where IS holds a military complex known as Division 17.
Advance
“IS has reinforced the northern approach to Raqqa much more, thinking that’s how the SDF would try to advance on the city,” Abdel Rahman said.
“The western and eastern entrances to the city were much less fortified,” he said.
The offensive has been backed by the US-led coalition with air strikes, special forces advisers, weapons, and equipment.
Coalition strikes on the city throughout the day on Saturday killed at least 13 civilians, according to the Observatory.
Abdel Rahman said the recent raids brought the civilian death toll in coalition raids to 47 since the battle for Raqqa city was launched on June 6.
Reports of civilian casualties in the air campaign have swelled in recent weeks, but the coalition says it takes every measure to avoid hitting noncombattants.
An estimated 300,000 civilians were believed to have been living under IS rule in Raqqa, including 80,000 displaced from other parts of Syria.
Thousands have fled in recent months, and the UN humanitarian office estimates about 160,000 people remain in the city.
On Saturday, displaced families could be seen arriving at a makeshift camp in Ain Issa, 50 kms (30 miles) north of Raqqa.
Children sprayed each other with water from large red water tanks, trying to cool off under the beating summer sun.
Last month a camp administrator said more than 20,000 people had sought refuge in Ain Issa, and appealed for additional assistance.
The Pentagon credited Russia on Friday for helping calm tensions in southern Syria after a US jet shot down a pro-regime combat drone that had fired at coalition forces.
In the first incident of its type, the pro-regime drone on Thursday fired what turned out to be a dud bomb at US-led coalition forces close to the coalition’s At-Tanaf garrison near the Jordanian border.
The Pentagon has not said who was operating the drone or where it came from, but the At-Tanaf area has seen a surge in activity of Iran-backed troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar alAssad, and Iran makes an armed drone similar in description to the one shot down. Russia is fighting for Assad and has considerable sway over the various forces on the battlefield.
Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said any escalation in hostilities between the coalition and the proregime forces had been avoided thanks mainly to Russia’s influence.
“Russia has been very helpful and I think that the calm we see today is largely due to their efforts,” Davis said.
“They are trying to get the other parties, the pro-regime, the Iranian-backed militias to do the right thing and to prevent them from taking actions that are destabilizing.”
It was an unusual statement for the Pentagon, which in the past has roundly criticized Russian operations in Syria.
The Russian and US militaries have set up a special hotline to communicate about troop and plane movements over a crowded battle space, and the two sides regularly talk to avoid mishaps and ensure they are not operating in each others’ space.
Davis said there had been multiple military contacts over the At-Tanaf situation, both on the hotline and at “senior military levels.”
The Russians “have helped to pass messages and calm the situation there, and we hope that continues,” he said.
Tensions around the At-Tanaf garrison, where US and British commandos train local forces fighting the Islamic State group, have surged as pro-regime troops look to expand their influence.
Apart from the drone shootdown, the US has in recent weeks conducted three strikes against pro-regime forces it deemed to be threatening At-Tanaf.
But Davis said the coalition’s single goal was defeating IS and it sought to avoid getting drawn into the broader Syria conflict.
“We are only going to take action if we see things that they are doing that threaten us,” he said.
“Our only role there is to fight ISIS and that’s what we are doing.”
Supported by crutches and a fellow Islamic State jihadi, Abu Shuaib alMaslawi hopped on his left leg toward the explosives-laden black SUV that he would minutes later plow into a group of Iraqi troops in the northern city of Mosul. meeting Mogherini had a second phone call in 24 hours with the Saudi foreign minister Adel Al Jubeir.
Mogherini said she will continue contact with the parties in the coming days “always with one purpose to support the work that Kuwait is doing.” She said she had a “very long, substantial and good meeting” with the Qatari foreign minister who arrived in Brussels from Berlin and departed for Moscow. He did not make any statements to the press.
Mogherini said the EU has good relations with all the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and “we will keep good relations will all countries in the Gulf.
“We also believe that regional cooperation in the Gulf and around the Gulf is key to have an effective work on counter terrorism,” she said.
“We have a direct EU interest because of the work on security. We are together in the coalition against DAESH we are together in our efforts to find a way out of Syrian crisis besides economic and trade interests,” she noted.
US President Donald Trump is, meanwhile, ramping up pressure on Qatar to stop what he calls a “high level” of financial support of terrorism, even as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson tries to calm the worst diplomatic crisis in the Arabian Gulf in years.
Trump’s demand that there be “no more funding” by Qatar for extremists groups contradicted the message delivered Friday by Tillerson, who had urged Qatar’s neighbors to ease their blockade while calling for “calm and thoughtful dialogue.” Only an hour later, Tillerson sat in the front row in the Rose Garden as Trump enthusiastically embraced the move by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and others to punish Qatar.
“The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level,” Trump said, echoing an allegation the Saudi-led group has used to justify cutting diplomatic ties to the tiny gas-rich country. “We have to stop the funding of terrorism.”
Despite Tillerson’s plea for “no further escalation,” Trump’s sharp comments were likely to further embolden Saudi Arabia and the others in their bid to isolate Qatar. The State Department had said the US learned only at the last minute about the Arab nations’ plan to cut ties. But Trump said that he, Tillerson and military leaders had decided during Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia last month that a public rebuke was needed.
“The time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding — they have to end that funding — and its extremist ideology in terms of funding,” Trump said. Though the president said others, too, were guilty of supporting terrorism, he said he would not name them.
Amnesty
Meanwhile, Amnesty International warned Saturday of the “heartbreak and fear” being suffered by potentially thousands of ordinary individuals because of the political dispute in the Gulf that has isolated Qatar.
“Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates are toying with the lives of thousands of Gulf residents as part of their dispute with Qatar, splitting up families and destroying people’s livelihoods and education,” the London-based human rights watchdog said.
“For potentially thousands of people across the Gulf, the effect of the steps imposed in the wake of this political dispute is suffering, heartbreak and fear,” said James Lynch, deputy director of Amnesty’s Global Issues Programme, who was in Doha last week.
“These drastic measures are already having a brutal effect, splitting children from parents and husbands from wives,” said Amnesty after its researchers interviewed dozens of people affected by the crisis.
“People from across the region ... risk losing jobs and having their education disrupted.”