In a big blow to ISIS, the city of Raqqa, Syria, has now been freed from its former jihadi occupiers:
INDEPENDENT – US-backed militias have completely taken Isis’ de facto capital, Raqqa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Tuesday, in a major symbolic blow to the jihadist group.
The fall of Raqqa, where Isis staged euphoric parades after its string of lightning victories in 2014, is a potent symbol of the movement’s collapsing fortunes. The city was used as a base for the group to plan attacks abroad.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias backed by a US-led international alliance, has been fighting Isis inside Raqqa since June.
SOHR said 3,250 people were killed in the five-month battle, including 1,130 civilians.
A witness said fighting appeared to be almost at an end with only sporadic bursts of gunfire.
Militia fighters celebrated in the streets, chanted slogans from their vehicles and raised a flag inside Raqqa stadium.
An SDF spokesman said the alliance would capture the last Isis areas in the city within hours.
The jihadists’ last bases in the city, a stadium and a hospital, were captured earlier on Tuesday, the SDF said.
A local field commander said no Isis fighters remained at the two central points where militants had been best entrenched and where the SDF said fighting on Monday night and early Tuesday was focused.
I thought this day would never come. It’s great news to hear that Raqqa is now ISIS free.
Thanks to Obama allowing ISIS to grow and expand, it doesn’t spell the end of ISIS completely. But it is a big step in the right direction.