Raqqa, ‘capital’ of ISIS, falls

Extremists’ plans to establish caliphate crumble in Syria

The Islamic State’s capital in Syria fell to U.S.-backed forces Tuesday, the most significant defeat for the militant group since it burst onto the world stage three years ago as a seemingly invincible force.

The defeat of the Islamic State, or ISIS, in Raqqa after a fourmonth battle with U.S.-backed forces leaves only remnants of the group along the Euphrates River Valley stretching between Iraq and Syria.

ISIS fighters have been pushed out of most of their major strongholds in both countries, bringing to a crashing end the group’s ambitious vow to create a powerful “caliphate” it would rule across the Middle East.

The announcement of Raqqa’s liberation was made by the Syrian Democratic Forces, the coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters backed by U.S. air power, advisers and weapons.

Col. Ryan Dillon, a coalition military spokesman, said more than 90% of Raqqa has been cleared, and about 100 militants remain inside the city. Pockets of

resistance and booby traps still need to be cleared.

What was supposed to be a cataclysmic battle ended relatively quickly as exhausted militants in the northern Syrian city surrendered, attempted to flee or were killed by coalition airstrikes and ground attacks.

The defeat in Raqqa doesn’t spell the end of the Islamic State. ISIS is shifting its focus to bombings, targeted assassinations and other terror tactics, said Seth Jones, an analyst at the RAND Corp., a think tank.

The collapse of the Islamic State’s holdings in Iraq and Syria suggests its leadership overreached in attempting to grab territory

it couldn’t hold, dealing a significant blow to the terror group’s image.

The leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announced the establishment of the caliphate in 2014 from a mosque in Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq. Militants were pushed out of Mosul by Iraqi security forces this year after a nine-month battle.

The ability to govern towns and cities made ISIS different

from most other militant groups, but it allowed the U.S.-backed coalition to target it. Coalition aircraft bombed the terror group’s warehouses of stolen cash, oil facilities, heavy weapons and armored vehicles and tanks.

ISIS used oil sales, plundered loot and relied on extortion to fund city governments, which provided basic services but imposed a strict version of Islam and dealt brutally with opponents

of its rule. ISIS regularly used civilians as “human shields.”

At its peak in 2014 and 2015, ISIS controlled large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria, ruling about 11 million people, according to RAND.

There are about 6,500 ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria, down from a peak of nearly 30,000, according to the Pentagon.

Groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaeda have proved resilient. They have found refuge in countries plagued by civil war or weak central governments to establish strongholds, including in Africa, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East.

“We’re all paying close attention to whatever ISIS transforms into next,” Army Col. Pat Work, a U.S. adviser in Iraq, said in an interview several weeks ago.

The collapse of the caliphate will hurt ISIS’ global recruitment and tarnish the terror group’s image and grand ambitions.

“It does not want to be an insurgency,” Work said. “It wants to hold terrain, dominate populations, administer its deformed politics, and it wants to be able to expand continuously.”

BULENT KILIC, AFP/GETTY IMAGES A member of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a faction backed by U.S. special operations forces, hoists the SDF flag in Al-Naim square in Raqqa on Tuesday. Fighters said they had taken control of Raqqa from the Islamic State group, defeating the...

HUSSEIN MALLA, AP The Islamic State folded fairly quickly in the face of advancing Syrian fighters in Raqqa, Syria.