Northern Raqqa offensive

The former spokesman of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a militant group dominated by the Syrian Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), has said the SDF struck deals with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on three separate occasions to evacuate them from certain areas, including Raqqa.

U.S.-backed militias said they had defeated Islamic State in its former capital Raqqa on Tuesday, raising their flags over the jihadist group's last footholds in the city after a four-month battle, reported Reuters. 

A US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters is poised to begin a new offensive in the Syrian city of Raqqa shortly, a commander has told the BBC. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been fighting so-called Islamic State (IS) militants in the group's former stronghold for nearly four months.

The few bullet-marked schools Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) did not flatten or booby trap around its former Syrian stronghold of Raqqa are buzzing for the first time in years with the sound of children learning.

In the village of Hazima, north of Raqqa, teachers gave ad-hoc alphabet lessons to crammed classrooms on a recent summer's day before the start of term. 

At least 42 civilians were killed on Monday in an air strikes in the Syrian province of Raqqa by an aircraft from the US-led international coalition against the Middle Eastern radical Islamic State.

This is reported by the AFP, referring to data from the Syrian Human Rights Watch.

About 2,000 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants are estimated to remain in the Syrian city of Raqqa, fighting for their survival in the face of an offensive by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a senior U.S. official said on Aug. 4.

Brett McGurk, the U.S. special envoy for the coalition to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is set to hold discussions in Ankara on June 30 after his visit to Syria.

McGurk will have talks at the Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry, according to sources. 

U.S.-backed Syrian forces battling the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) pushed closer to the Old City in the jihadist stronghold of Raqqa on June 12, a monitor said.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) entered Raqqa for the first time almost a week ago, after months of battle to encircle the city.

A U.S.-backed Syrian opposition force said on June 11 that it had captured a northwestern neighborhood of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) self-declared capital of Raqqa, making it the second district to fall into their hands in as many days after the group launched a wide offensive to gain control of the extremists' de facto capital.

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.