Fighting enters heart of Islamic State’s stronghold

BEIRUT — U.S.-backed Syrian fighters fought Islamic State militants in the heart of Raqqa, the extremists’ selfstyled capital, on Monday, as scores of civilians fled areas controlled by the group.

The Kurdish-led group has been one of the most effective forces fighting the militants in Syria, but it has also clashed with Turkish-backed Syrian forces elsewhere in the country. As it battled in Raqqa, the SDF also fought Turkish-allied Syrian forces in Ein Daqna, in the neighboring Aleppo province, according to Syrian activists and Turkish media.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, aided by the U.S.-led coalition, launched their offensive to capture Raqqa on June 6 and have since taken several areas. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday’s fighting was concentrated in Raqqa’s southwestern neighborhood of Yarmouk as well as in a central area close to the Old City.

The SDF said intense fighting was under way in central Raqqa, adding that its fighters had taken positions near a centuries-old mosque known as the Old Mosque.

The intensification of fighting comes a week after Iraqi forces declared victory against Islamic State in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the largest city the extremists have held. The loss of Raqqa would deal a major blow to the militants, but the group still holds wide areas of the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, bordering Iraq.

The Kurdish-run Hawar news agency said some 180 civilians were able to flee areas controlled by Islamic State, while the Observatory put the number in the hundreds.

The SDF is dominated by a Kurdish militia known as the YPG, which Turkey views as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency raging in its own territory. Turkish troops and allied Syrian forces rolled into Syria last year in order to battle Islamic State and halt the advance of the SDF. The U.S.-led coalition has sought to stop the fighting between Turkey and the SDF, both of which are allies against Islamic State.

The website of Turkey’s pro-government A Haber television said Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters began a “large” operation against the SDF in Ein Daqna, close to the Turkish border. The website quotes unnamed local sources as saying that intense clashes were ongoing.

Rezan Hiddo, an SDF political officer, said the group had repelled the assault on Ein Daqna.