American-backed forces began a final assault against the Islamic State in Syria’s Raqqa on Sunday, as the terrorist group loses its grip on its self-declared capital city.
The Syrian Democratic Forces, an American-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, allowed a convoy of ISIS fighters to surrender and leave the city, leaving around 100 militants left inside a small part of Raqqa.
“The battle will continue until the whole city is clean,” the Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement.
The fight for Raqqa began in June, with Syrian Democratic Forces leading the assault backed by American airstrikes. At least 90 percent of the city is believed to be controlled by the allied Syrian fighters. ISIS had captured the city in January 2014.
If ISIS were to lose Raqqa, it would only hold some of Deir el-Zour province in Syria and Iraq’s Anbar province, as well as other small areas, far short of the caliphate the terrorist group claimed to establish connecting Syria and Iraq.
