US-backed forces comb ghost city Raqqa; IS ousted
RAQQA: US-backed forces combed the ruins of Raqqa for survivors and bombs yesterday, after retaking the Syrian city from Islamic State group jihadists and dealing their dreams of statehood a fatal blow. A lightning final assault by the Syrian Democratic Forces on Tuesday saw jihadist defenses collapse faster than expected and the SDF claim a landmark victory in the three-year fight against IS. SDF fighters flushed jihadist holdouts from Raqqa’s main hospital and municipal stadium, wrapping up a more than four-month offensive against what used to be the inner sanctum of IS’s self-proclaimed “caliphate”. Waving their yellow flags, the Kurdish-led SDF forces celebrated their victory on an infamous traffic circle where IS used to carry out public executions and that had become known as the “Roundabout of Hell”.
Yesterday, teams of SDF fighters deployed across the eery, rubble-strewn streets of Raqqa to look for unexploded ordnance and booby traps left behind by the jihadists. “They are making sure there are no more sleeper cells” in Raqqa, SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said. “Mine-clearing operations and the re-opening of the city are under way,” Bali said, adding that his organization would only formally announce the liberation of the city once they are completed. The SDF and the Kurdish intelligence services issued clear instructions forbidding the tens of thousands of displaced families from attempting to return to their homes. —AFP