Syria force hails victory in Raqqa
raqqa — The Daesh group’s defeat in its Syrian bastion of Raqqa was a ‘historic’ achievement, the USbacked force that led the monthslong battle said at an official ceremony in the city on Friday.
“We dedicate this historic victory to all humanity,” said Talal Sello, spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that took full control of Raqqa.
“We in the general command of the Syrian Democratic Forces announce that we will hand over the administration of the city of Raqqa and the surrounding countryside to the internal security forces in Raqqa,” Sello added, referring to part of a civil authority set up for the city. But Sello said the handover would not be immediate, with SDF fighters still combing the city, which lies in ruins and littered with explosives.
“After the end of clearing operations... we will hand over the city to the Raqqa Civil Council,” he said. The RCC was created some six months ago, and is made up of officials who will face the daunting task of rebuilding the city. Raqqa become the de facto Syrian capital of Daesh’s ‘caliphate’ in Syria and Iraq after the militants captured it in 2014.
The SDF, a Kurdish-Arab alliance backed by the US-led coalition, broke into the city in June after months of fighting to surround it.
Meanwhile, the US-backed militias said that Raqqa will be part of a decentralised federal Syria, the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the people of the majority Arab city and surrounding province would decide their own future “within the framework of a decentralised, federal democratic Syria”. — AFP, Reuters