Talal Sello

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said on June 6 they were launching a new phase in their assault on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group's bastion Raqqa, after advancing to the city's outskirts.
 

The US-backed Kurdish-Arab force leading the fight for the ISIS’s Syrian bastion Raqqa announced Tuesday the creation of a “civilian council” to administer the city after its capture.

“The civilian council of Raqqa will be charged with administering Raqqa and the surrounding province after liberation,” the Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement.

Fighting at a dam held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in northern Syria put it out of service yesterday, risking dangerous rising water levels, a technical source told AFP.

The international coalition battling the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) will begin a final push on the jihadists' Syrian stronghold Raqqa in the coming days, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on March 24.

The top U.S. military commander for the Middle East made a secret trip to northern Syria on Feb. 24 to meet a U.S.-backed alliance fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), officials said.

General Joseph Votel, who heads U.S. Central Command (Centcom), met with leaders from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The United States has provided an alliance of Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters battling the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) with armored vehicles for the first time, a U.S. official and a spokesman for the anti-jihadist force stated on Jan. 31.

A U.S.-backed coalition of Syrian Kurdish Arab fighters fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria has received U.S. armored vehicles for the first time and a promise of new American support, a coalition spokesman said on Jan. 31.

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). 

An alliance of Kurdish and Arab rebels advanced Dec. 24 against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria's north in a new offensive backed by U.S.-led air strikes, its spokesman said.

Talal Sello, spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, told AFP the SDF offensive was launched late Dec. 23 in the Aleppo province.