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1st LD: Kurdish-led forces declare battle to liberate Syria's al-Raqqa from IS

Xinhua, November 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced Sunday the beginning of a military campaign against Syria's northern city of al-Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State (IS) group.

"We in the general command of the Syrian Democratic Forces are breaking the good news to you about the beginning of our major military campaign to liberate the city of al-Raqqa and its countryside from the clutches of the forces of darkness represented by Daesh (IS)," an SDF statement read.

The military campaign, dubbed "The Euphrates Rage," started on Saturday evening in cooperation and coordination with the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition, it added.

It said that a joint operations room has been formed to lead and coordinate the campaign for al-Raqqa.

The SDF, meanwhile, urged the regional and international powers that have been affected by the IS to take part in the "honor to eliminate the core of the international terrorism" represented by the IS by providing all kinds of support to the SDF.

The SDF move toward al-Raqqa will surely raise the ire of Turkey, which has recently asked the U.S. to put the offensive on al-Raqqa on hold till the liberation of the battle against IS in its second stronghold in Mosul Iraq.

Turkey wanted to lead the offensive on al-Raqqa with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels, which it has been backing recently to take areas from IS in northern Syria and cut the road in the face of the SDF advance in northern Syria, near Turkey.

Turkey's main concern is a growing Kurdish influence near its borders, and that was a main point of contention between Washington and Ankara.

Turkish officials repeatedly said they would be liberate al-Raqqa with the help of the SDF, an overwhelmingly Kurdish opposition alliance that includes Arabs, Assyrians, and Turkmen fighters. Endit