U.S.-backed Syrian fighters have begun an offensive to liberate the northern Syrian city of Raqqa from the brutal occupation by the Islamic State, after months of preparation.
The Pentagon said last week the city, the self-proclaimed ISIS capital, was surrounded on three sides and that almost 200,000 civilians had fled the city in anticipation of what promises to be a long and bloody fight.
The military operation started Tuesday, and is being carried out by what the U.S. describes as a multi-ethnic fighting force comprising Syrian Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen troops, dubbed the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian Arab Coalition.
The U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition is supporting the offensive, but U.S. special operations troops are not in the front lines, according to the U.S. military.
“Coalition forces will continue to support the SAC and SDF during their Raqqa offensive as part of their ‘advise and assist’ mission, providing equipment, training, Intelligence and logistics support, precision fires, and battlefield advice,” according to a statement from the Operation Inherent Resolve.
“The fight for Raqqa will be long and difficult,” said Lt. Gen. Steve Townsend, the U.S commander overseeing the counter ISIS campaign in Iraq and Syria in a statement.
But Townsend promised the offensive “would deliver a decisive blow to the idea of ISIS as a physical caliphate,” and noted that in neighboring Iraq, Mosul, ISIS’s other “capital,” is about to fall to Iraqi forces.
“It’s hard to convince new recruits that ISIS is a winning cause when they just lost their twin capitals in both Iraq and Syria,” Townsend said.
At the Pentagon, spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis that the SDF was already making progress, have already cleared six square miles of the Raqqa valley to the east of the city, and have advanced to within 2 1/2 miles of the city limits to the north.
Davis would not say how many U.S. troops were supporting the Syrian fighters, but said “hundreds” would be a fair estimate.
“We are continuing to position ourselves where best to assist and advise partner forces,” Davis said. “We have there assisting in this battle Marine M777 howitzers, which are providing a significant enabling capability for our special operations forces and partners on the ground, and we are also employing AH-64 Apache [helicopter gunships].
The Pentagon describes the SDF as a multiethnic group of about 55,000 U.S.-backed fighters that includes 26,000 Syrian Kurds, and 29,000 Syrian Arabs.
The actual force that is moving on Raqqa is smaller and has a higher percentage of Syrian Arabs, according to the U.S. military.
The offensive has begun without the direct participation of Turkey, which was furious with the United States for arming Kurdish militia elements it believes are linked to terrorists. Despite months of insisting that talks with Turkey about a role for in the liberation of Raqqa, no agreement was ever reached with the NATO ally.
The U.S. insists the Kurdish fighters will not stay in Raqqa once it’s liberated, and that control of the city will be turned over to a representative body of local civilians who will provide security and governance.
The U.S. says victory against ISIS in Raqqa and Mosul will not be the end of the effort to defeat the terrorist network.
“Once ISIS is defeated in both Mosul and Raqqa, there will still be a lot of hard fighting ahead,” Townsend said. “But this Coalition is strong and committed to the complete annihilation of ISIS in both Iraq and Syria.”
