U.S.-backed Syria rebel group says ready to attack IS de facto capital

A U.S.-backed Syrian rebel group said on Sunday that it was ready for a battle to liberate Syria's northern city of al-Raqqa from the Islamic State (IS) group.

"Preparations have been made for the decisive step and the Liwar Thuwar al-Raaqa is ready with full equipment and manpower for the imminent battle by God's will," the group said on its official Twitter account.

Since early this year, Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa, Arabic for al-Raqqa Revolutionist Brigade, has become part of the Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Force (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish fighters and other Syrian rebel groups deemed as "moderate" by the West.

The SDF has been largely supported by the U.S. in the battles against the IS over the past year.

The aim of the group is to defeat IS in northern Syria, and apparently stripping the terror group of its self-declared capital is their next move, especially after the recent visit of a U.S. official to northern Syria.

General Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Centcom, secretly visited northern Syria on Friday for 11 hours, during which he met with commanders of SDF and other U.S.-backed rebel groups.

The visit was said to aim to coordinate the U.S.-led coalition and rebel plans in taking back Syria's northern province of Raqqa.

Votel's trip was not the first visit of a U.S. official to areas not under the government control in Syria.

In February, the U.S. envoy to the coalition against IS, Brett McGurk, visited a Kurdish-controlled area in northern Syria, a visit that was believed to review the anti-IS fight.

Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa is believed to play an important role in the "imminent" battle, as the head of the group, known as Abu Issa, said recently that each group in the SDF is responsible for fighting in areas where it belongs, and since much of the group's fighters are from al-Raqqa, the group will apparently spearhead any ground operations in cooperation with other factions of the SDF, under the air cover of the U.S-led anti-terror coalition which has been bombing IS positions in Syria since late 2014.

Even though the timing of the battle wasn't declared, the IS seems to have anticipated the move, asking civilians in key areas in Raqqa to move toward IS-controlled towns in the countryside of that province, which fell to the IS in late 2013.

Reports said the terror group also went on arrest raids for young men to oblige them to fight among its ranks. Endit