US-led forces rejoice over fall of Raqqa

BEIRUT: US-backed Syrian forces celebrated in the devastated streets of Raqqa after gaining control of the city that once was the heart of the Islamic State’s self-styled caliphate, dealing a major defeat to the extremist group that has seen its territory shrink ever smaller since summer.

Militants took over the vibrant metropolis on the Euphrates River in 2014, transforming it into the epicentre of their brutal rule, where opponents were beheaded and terror plots hatched.

It took thousands of bombs dropped by the US-led coalition and more than four months of gruelling house-to-house battles for the Syrian Democratic Forces to recapture Raqqa, marking a new chapter in the fight against the group whose once vast territory has been reduced to a handful of towns in Syria and Iraq.

“Liberating Raqqa is a triumph for humanity, especially women”, who suffered the most under IS, said Ilham Ahmed, a senior member of the SDF political wing.

“It is a salvation for the will to live an honourable life. It is a defeat to the forces of darkness,” said Ahmed, speaking from Ein Issa, just north of Raqqa.

Fighters from the SDF celebrated by chanting and honking their horns as they spun doughnuts with their Humvees and armoured personnel carriers, and hoisting yellow SDF flags around Naim, or Paradise Square.

The infamous square was the site of public beheadings and other killings by the militants. Bodies and severed heads would be displayed there for days, mounted on posts and labelled with their alleged crimes, according to residents who later dubbed it “Hell Square”.

Crumbled and flattened buildings stood behind the fighters as they drove around the square, a sign of the massive destruction the city has suffered since the militants took over.

“Military operations in Raqqa have ceased and we are now combing the city for sleeper cells and cleaning it from landmines,” Brig Gen Talal Sillo said earlier in the day. — AP