IS group loses emblematic Syria stronghold Raqqa

RAQQA, Syria: US-backed forces took full control of Raqqa from the Islamic State group on Tuesday, defeating the last jihadist holdouts in the de facto Syrian capital of their now-shattered “caliphate.”

The victory caps a battle of more than four months, hammering an - ist group’s experiment in statehood, which has collapsed in the face of offensives in Syria and Iraq.

- ers from the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces celebrated and raised their yellow flag in the became known as “Hell Roundabout” after jihadists used it for gruesome public executions.

Raqqa had become a byword for atrocities carried out by the jihadists and it was from the city that IS organised devastating overseas attacks like the Paris massacres in 2015 or August’s attacks in Barcelona.

“Hell Roundabout is now AlNaim Roundabout again,” the fighters in Raqqa cheered, surrounded by crushed buildings and battle for the city.

Rojda Felat, the SDF’s commander for its Raqqa operation, hanging from her shoulder.

“God willing, joy will return to Himo, his eyes gleaming.

The defeat of IS in Raqqa was a victory “the whole world was waiting for,” said Omar Alloush, a member of the Raqqa Civil Coun- Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by US special forces, place their flags at the iconic Al-Naim square in Raqqa on Tuesday ( Wednesday in Manila). cil formed to run the city after liberation.

Raqqa has been devastated by fighting and emptied of civilians, with the last few thousand departing under a deal implemented over the weekend.

For Umm Abdullah, a Raqqa native of its capture was overwhelming.

“I can’t describe my happiness,” the 44-year-old told Agence France-Presse in the town of Kobane, 100 kilometers (70 miles) north of Raqqa.

across Kobane late into the evening. its

‘ Thank God, thank God’

“When my sister told me it had been freed, she started to cry, and then I started to cry. Thank God, thank God.”

SDF forces broke into Raqqa to surround the city. On Tuesday positions in the main hospital and the municipal stadium.

our forces have taken full control of Raqqa,” the alliance’s spokesman Talal Sello told Agence France-Presse.

He said the SDF was combing the city for any remaining jihadists who had not surrendered or been killed.

“The military operations in Raqqa operations now under way to uncover any sleeper cells there might be and remove mines,” he said.

The announcement came just days after the SDF launched the final phase of its operation to retake the city.

There had been fears that the force, backed by the US-led coalition battling IS in Syria and Iraq, could get bogged down in a protracted battle for the last 10 percent of the city.

But on Tuesday they captured the hospital and stadium in quick succession, effectively ending IS’s more than three-year presence in the city.

announcing “the liberation of the city” would be made soon.