Syrian democratic forces supported by the United States announced on Tuesday that it had Captured the city of Raqqa Islamic state activists.
“Everything is finished in Raqqa, our forces took total control of Raqqa,” said SDF spokesman Talal Sello AFP. An official statement would be announced after operations to eliminate remaining dormant cells and to eliminate the city mines from the city, added Sello.
This decision is a major setback for the Islamic State which considered Raqqa the de facto capital of its self -proclaimed caliphate. It comes on the third birthday global effort to overcome the Islamic State.
Raqqa was the first provincial capital to fall in government control in March 2013 After being captured by a rebellious army. The army included both Syrian opposition groups and harder parties, notably Al-Nura and the Islamic State.
A civil government which was created in the city divided two months later, and less than a year later, the Islamic State resumed Raqqa and appointed the capital of their caliphate.
About 900 civilians have been killed since the start of the five -month operation, including 570 people in the air raids of the coalition, according to the Syrian network for human rights. Great Britain Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Put the number of civilian deaths to 1,130 people. American journalist James Foley was beheaded in the mountains south of the city.
According to a reuters, the homeless fighters lowered the black flag of the Islamic State of the city's national hospital near the city stadium report.
The special presidential envoy for the global coalition to defeat the Brett Islamic State McGurk said in August that the United States would try to “stabilize” in Raqqa – including demining, elimination of the rubble of the main tracks to allow trucks and equipment to return to their house.
It is not clear when the 300,000 civilians Who has fled Raqqa since April during the operation will be able to return.
