Daesh’s capital is falling
The Daesh group is on the verge of defeat in Raqqa, once its de facto Syrian capital, and the city may finally be cleared of the militants on Saturday or Sunday, the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said.
A local official said tribal elders were seeking to broker a deal where remaining Daesh fighters, including foreigners, would leave the city, taking civilians with them as human shields.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by air strikes and special forces from a US-led international coalition, have been battling since June to oust Daesh from Raqqa, a base that it had used to plan attacks against the West.
The retaking of Raqqa will be a major milestone in efforts to roll back the theocratic “caliphate” that Daesh militants declared in Syria and Iraq, where earlier this year it was driven from the city of Mosul.
“The battles are continuing in Raqqa city,” YPG spokesman Nouri Mahmoud, whose group dominates the SDF, told reporters by telephone. “Daesh is on the verge of being finished. Today or tomorrow, the city may be liberated.”
The US-led coalition said a convoy was set to depart Raqqa on Saturday under an arrangement brokered by local officials.
Its statement said the coalition was not involved in the discussions, and described the arrangement as “a civilian evacuation”.
Its spokesman, Col. Ryan Dillon, said the coalition’s stance was that Daesh fighters must surrender unconditionally, but added that he could not comment on who would be in the convoy. He said difficult fighting was expected in the days ahead.
The coalition statement said the arrangement brokered by the Raqqa Civil Council and local Arab tribal elders on October 12 was “designed to minimise civilian casualties and purportedly excludes foreign Daesh terrorists”.
The coalition believed the arrangement would “save innocent lives and allow Syrian Democratic Forces and the coalition to focus on defeating Daesh terrorists in Raqqa with less risk of civilian casualties”, it said.
Omar Alloush, a member of the Raqqa Civil Council, set up to run Raqqa after it is freed from Daesh, said the 100 Daesh fighters who had already surrendered had been convinced to do so during talks with the tribal elders.
“Others didn’t surrender, so now they’re looking for a plan where they (Daesh) leave and take civilian hostages with them to another place far from the city, and then release the civilians,” he told reporters in an interview in Ain Issa, north of Raqqa. The Daesh fighters would go to remaining territory held by the group in Syria, he said. The deal could happen as soon as Saturday, he said.
A tribal leader said he expected the evacuation to take place on Saturday or Sunday.
An activist group that reports on Raqqa said on its Facebook page that dozens of buses had entered Raqqa city overnight from the countryside to the north.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organisation that reports on the war, said Syrian Daesh fighters and their families had already left the city, and buses had arrived to evacuate remaining foreign fighters and their families. The Syrian army, which is supported by Iran-backed militias and the Russian air force, declared another significant victory over Daesh group on Saturday, saying it had captured the town of Al Mayadin in Deir Al Zor province. The eastern province is Daesh’s last major foothold in Syria, and it is under attack there from the SDF on one side and Syrian government forces supported by Iranbacked militias and Russian air strikes on the other.
Daesh fighters had previously agreed to an evacuation last August, from an area on the Syrian-Lebanese border.
But as their convoy moved towards Daesh-held territory in eastern Syria, coalition planes blocked its route by cratering roads, destroying bridges and attacking nearby Islamic State vehicles.—
The battles are continuing in Raqqa city. Daesh is on the verge of being finished. Today or tomorrow the city may be liberated.” — Nouri Mahmoud YPG spokesman
We still expect difficult fighting in the days ahead and will not set a time for when we think (Daesh) will be completely defeated in Raqqa.” — Col. Ryan Dillon, the spokesman for the US-led coalition
Others didn’t surrender, so now they’re looking for a plan where they (Daesh group) leave and take civilian hostages with them.” — Omar Alloush, a member of the Raqqa Civil Council
The foreign fighters are asking to leave in one group towards areas under Daesh control in Deir Ezzor province.” — Rami Abdel Rahman, Observatory head