Key advance in fight for city
BEIRUT — U.S.backed Syrian forces have breached the wall around Raqqa’s Old City, the U.S. military said Tuesday, marking a major advance in the weeksold battle to drive Islamic State militants out of their self-declared capital.
The U.S. Central Command said the coalition struck two “small portions” of the Rafiqah Wall, allowing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces “to advance into the most heavily fortified portion” of the city, bypassing booby traps and snipers. It said the strikes left most of the 2,500-yard wall intact. The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdurrahman, said the breaching of the wall was the most important development to date in the battle for Raqqa. He said three SDF units advanced toward the wall under air cover, breaking through the Islamic State defenses, and that heavy clashes were under way.
Footage provided by the SDF showed their fighters roaming Qasr al-Banat, a historic quarter inside Raqqa’s Old City. Another unit entered through the socalled Baghdad Gate, opening up a second front inside the Old City.
The U.S. military said Islamic State fighters were using the historic wall as a fighting position, and had planted explosives at several openings. It said the coalition forces were making every effort to protect civilians and preserve the historic sites.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces launched a multipronged assault on Raqqa last month after securing the surrounding countryside. On Sunday, the U.S.-backed fighters crossed the Euphrates River on the southern edge of the city, completing its encirclement.
U.N. officials say 50,000 to 100,000 civilians remain in the city amid “dire” conditions. Those who try to escape risk being attacked by Islamic State militants or forcibly recruited as human shields.
The U.S.-led coalition is providing close air support to the SDF, which has already driven the extremists from much of northern and eastern Syria.
Several Islamic State leaders were once based in Raqqa, where the group plotted attacks in Europe. The loss of the northern Syrian city, one of their last strongholds, would deal a major blow to the group.