The U.S. general leading the coalition fighting the Islamic State says the military offensive to liberate the Islamic State stronghold in Raqqa, Syria will begin soon, so as not to allow Islamic State fighters fleeing Mosul in Iraq a “convenient place” to go.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said on Wednesday that the plan from the beginning was to launch assaults against the de facto capitals in Syria and Iraq nearly simultaneously to maximize pressure on the terrorist group.
The race is on to liberate Raqqa before the Islamic State is able to orchestrate attacks in other countries.
“We think there’s an imperative to get isolation in place around Raqqa because our intelligence feeds tell us that there is significant external operations attacks planning going on, emanating, centralized in Raqqa,” Townsend said.
Townsend described Islamic State fighters in Mosul as “pulling out all the stops,” to try to slow the advance of Iraqi and Kurdish forces as they begin to reach the outer boundaries of the northern Iraqi city, and he expects a similar desperate effort to defend Raqqa.
As in Iraq, the plan involves local forces. In the case of Syria, that would be Kurdish militia backed by coalition airpower.
“I believe that there are sufficient local forces already available for that operation,” Townsend told reporters at the Pentagon in a briefing from Baghdad. “However, we have a plan to recruit and equip and train more local forces for that operation.”
Townsend said the U.S. is in negotiations with Turkey, whose possible role in the Raqqa operation is clouded by its attacks on the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria, which Ankara sees as a terrorist group.
Those Kurdish fighters make up the bulk of the Syrian Arab Coalition, which the U.S. is counting on to be the vanguard of the Raqqa liberation force.
Townsend indicated that the U.S. would proceed with or without Turkish support. “We think we have to get to Raqqa pretty soon.”
Asked if that meant in the coming weeks, Townsend said simply, “soon.”
