US-backed force gains ground on ISIL in Syria's Raqqa

U.S.-backed fighters gained ground against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the streets of Raqqa on June 7, a day after their months-long offensive finally broke into the jihadists' Syrian bastion.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia has spent seven months advancing on the city, with backing from the U.S.-led coalition bombing ISIL in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.    

Captured by the jihadists in 2014, Raqa became synonymous with IS atrocities including beheadings and public displays of bodies, and also emerged as a hub for planning attacks abroad.

On June 6, SDF forces finally broke into the eastern Al-Meshleb district of the city.

Early on June 7, the SDF captured the neighbourhood and the Harqal citadel to the west of the city, the command of "Operation Wrath of the Euphrates" said.

The citadel sits on a hilltop roughly two kilometers from the city limits.

Fighting was also raging in a military complex around two kilometres north of the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britain-based monitoring group said the U.S.-led coalition had carried out heavy bombing raids to back the advance.    

One of the June 6 air strikes inside the city killed eight civilians, including three children, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.  

Reported civilian casualties in coalition air strikes have swelled as the SDF has ramped up its offensive.

The Kurdish Democratic Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), are the backbone of the SDF. Turkey views both groups as terrorists fuor their links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). 

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