IS faces imminent Raqa defeat — Syrian militia
BEIRUT: Islamic State is on the verge of defeat in Syria’s Raqa and the city may finally expected to be cleared of the jihadists, the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said yesterday.
“The battles are continuing in Raqqa city. Daesh (Islamic State) is on the verge of being finished. Today or tomorrow the city may be liberated,” YPG spokesman Nouri Mahmoud told Reuters by telephone.
The YPG dominates the USbacked Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Arab and Kurdish militias that has been battling since June to defeat Islamic State at Raqa, which served as the jihadist group’s de facto capital in Syria.
An activist group that reports on Raqa, Raqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, said on its Facebook page yesterday that dozens of buses had entered Raqa city overnight, having travelled from the northern Raqa countryside.
The Britain-based Observatory said Syrian Islamic State fighters and their families had already left the city, and buses had arrived to evacuate remaining foreign fighters and their families.
It did not say where they would be taken to.
The Observatory said the evacuation was taking place according to a deal reached between the SDF and the US-led coalition on the one hand, and Islamic State on the other.
The US-led coalition and SDF officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the Observatory report.
During the more than sixyear Syrian war, the arrival of buses in a conflict zone has often signalled an evacuation of combatants and civilians.
In August, Islamic State fighters agreed to be evacuated from a Lebanon-Syria border area, the first time the militants had publicly agreed to a forced evacuation from territory they held in Syria.
Civilians have been making perilous journeys to escape Islamic State-held areas as SDF forces advance. PARIS: An original illustration for the cover of one of the early Asterix comic books sold for a record 1.4 million euros (US$1.7 million) at auction, more than seven times its expected price, an auction house announced.
The drawing for ‘Asterix and the Banquet’ (‘Le Tour de Gaul’ in French), signed by the creators of the legendary series, Albert Uderzo and Rene Goscinny, was sold by the Drouot auction house in Paris.
The story, first published as an album in 1965, recounts the travels of shrewd Gallic hero Asterix and his rotund sidekick Obelix as they travel round France collecting local delicacies and wine. It had been expected to sell for 180,000200,000 euros, a statement from Drouot said.
Another cover illustration for the ‘Asterix and the Chieftain’s Shield’ volume sold for 1.2 million euros. — AFP