US-backed forces launch operation on ISIL bastion Raqqa

U.S.-backed rebels said on Nov. 6 they were launching an operation to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). 

The attack ratchets up pressure on the militant group at a critical moment, with its fighters already battling an offensive by Iraqi security forces on their remaining Iraqi stronghold in the northern city of Mosul. 

The U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab armed groups, first announced on Nov. 6 that a campaign to retake Raqqa would begin within hours, with U.S. forces providing air cover. Soon afterwards, it said that the operation, called "Wrath of Euphrates," had begun. 

"The general command of the Syria Democratic Forces announces the blessed start of its major military campaign to liberate the city of Raqqa," Jihan Sheikh Ahmed, an SDF spokeswoman, told a news conference in the Syrian town of Ain Issa. 

The SDF called on Raqqa's civilians to avoid areas where ISIL militants are present and to go to "liberated territory." 

An attack on Raqqa has been long expected, with U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter saying on Oct. 25 that the battle to retake it would "overlap" with the assault on Mosul. 

The top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, said last month that the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIL wanted to move urgently to isolate Raqqa because of concerns about the group using the city  as a base to plan and launch attacks against targets abroad. 

SDF spokesman Talal Sello told AFP the operation would proceed in two phases, first seizing areas around Raqqa and isolating the city, advancing from three fronts, then "taking control of the city" itself.