Defense Secretary Ash Carter applauded U.S.-backed coalition forces for opening a new “isolation” effort in Raqqa on Sunday as part of an operation to remove the Islamic State from its de facto capital in Syria, but neglected to offer any hint of progress made with Turkey in negotiating allowing the Kurdish-led Syrian forces to enter the city.
“I welcome today’s announcement by the SDF that the operation to free Raqqa from ISIL’s barbaric grip has begun,” Carter said in a statement, referring to the Syria Democratic Forces — a coalition of Kurdish, Arab and Christian forces.
“The effort to isolate, and ultimately liberate, Raqqa marks the next step in our coalition campaign plan,” he added.
Carter’s comment Sunday suggests that the liberation phase of the operation is not yet finalized, as the U.S. and NATO ally Turkey spent the last week ironing out the details of Turkey’s role in the Raqqa operation. Turkey, which shares a border with Syria to the north, has said the U.S.-backed operation in Syria is a non-starter if the effort involves Kurdish fighters.
“We intend to go there soon with the force that is capable of doing that and enveloping the city of Raqqa … the final seizure of Raqqa, we continue to talk to Turkey about that and a possible role for Turkey in that further down the road,” Carter said earlier this week.
The Raqqa offensive was announced Sunday at a press conference in Ein Issa, north of Raqqa. A statement read by an official at the press conference said that 30,000 fighters will take part in the operation, but didn’t get into detail, though a large portion of the SDF are a Syrian Kurdish force known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG.
The latest move to combat the Islamic State coincides with another operation in Mosul.
“As in Mosul, the fight will not be easy and there is hard work ahead, but it is necessary to end the fiction of ISIL’s caliphate and disrupt the group’s ability to carry out terror attacks against the United States, our allies and our partners,” Carter said Sunday. “The international coalition will continue to do what we can to enable local forces in both Iraq and Syria to deliver ISIL the lasting defeat it deserves.”
