U.S. Support Boosts Campaign to Free ISIS-Held Raqqa
Encouraged by the arrival of a U.S. Marines artillery unit, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) claims it is prepared to liberate Raqqa in northern Syria from the Islamic State (ISIS). The main Syrian Kurdish force fighting the terror group is actually making headway toward this goal.
SDF spokeswoman Jihan Sheikh Ahmed claimed their numbers are boosted by locals in areas newly freed from ISIS. "The number of our forces is now increasing particularly from among the people of the area, and we have enough strength to liberate Raqqa with support from the coalition forces," she said.
"We have information that the enemy is moving part of its leadership outside the city as it is also digging tunnels under the ground. We expect they will fortify the city and the terrorist group will depend on street warfare," she continued telling Reuters.
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Gen. Joseph Votel, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, confirmed there will be a larger U.S. military presence in Syria not just to accelerate the fight against ISIS but also to quell tension between the warring factions going after the terror group – the SDF and the Syrian opposition forces backed by Turkey.
SDF is dominated by the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the People's Protection Units, or YPG. But Turkey has an insurgency called Kurdistan Workers' Party, which it believes is being supported by YPG. Syria, on the other hand, is accusing Turkey of supporting the opposition to oust President Bashar Assad from power.
Both the SDF and Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces are fighting ISIS separately. While the SDF is acknowledged to be the most effective ground troops, Turkey and its Syrian opposition are boasting they have killed 2,647 ISIS militants, as reported by AP.
For this reason, peace will continue to be elusive in that region even if ISIS is driven away as SDF and the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition will continue fighting each other. Even as operations against ISIS are underway, the Turkish military claims to have killed 425 SDF members.
