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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Battle for Raqqa: US backs Syrian rebels |
| 2016-05-26 |
| US to work with SDF forces in liberating Raqqa [ARA News] KOBANE – The United States will not need any Russian support to take Raqqa from ISIS, and will only work with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the US State Department spokesman said in response to comments made by the Russian Foreign Minister. Russian FM Sergey Lavrov has said that Moscow would like to coordinate with the U.S. coalition and the Kurds in the offensive to take northern Raqqah from the Islamic State (ISIS). However, the US made clear that they only want to work with the Russians for Geneva’s Syrian peace talks and to implement a ceasefire on the ground in Aleppo and Damascus to stop the killing and move towards elections and a transitional government in Syria. “I would just say that right now, first and foremost, we’re focused on engaging with Russia in terms of upholding and strengthening the cessation of hostilities, and we believe it’s important that Russia focus on ensuring that all parties live up to the commitments that they’ve made and that Russia uses its influence on the Assad regime to, again, to uphold the ceasefire,” US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner said on Tuesday. “[Regarding Raqqa] we do continue to work and support the efforts of the Syrian Democratic Forces to retake territory from Daesh and further isolate its transportation, communications, supply routes into Raqqa in order to really choke off their hold on that city,” he said, using an acronym for ISIS. Moreover, the US government does not believe that the Assad-regime is really fighting ISIS. “Our only objection is that far too often we’ve seen the [Assad] government claim to be hitting ISIS targets, and in fact, they’re hitting opposition groups who are part of the cessation of hostilities for strategic gain for – to hit their supply lines, whatever the rationale is behind it,” Toner said. Moreover, the US State Department’s spokesman said that the Syrian regime has carried out unspeakable violence against its citizens for the past five years although they liberated Palmyra from ISIS. “If you want to go over and categorize and catalog all those unspeakable acts, I’m happy to do that. But let me finish. What I did say is that Daesh/ISIL is a common enemy,” he stated. Speaking to ARA News, Salih Gheddo, leader of the Kurdish Democratic Left Party, said that the Russian government is not interested in Kurds. “The goal of Russia is to help the Syrian regime. They want to speak good about Kurds, because of their growing problems with Turkey over the last six months,” Gheddo said. However, the Kurdish official believes that the Kurds still should have relations with the Russian government. “If we have good relations with Russia it’s better, because they play a big role in Syria,” he said. In the meantime, senior Kurdish leader from the TEV-DEM party Abdulselam Mohammed told ARA News the goal of Russia is not to help Kurds. “Russia is a friend of the Assad regime and Iran, it’s not our friend,” he said. “If Syrians sit together, they can decide their own future,” he added. Nevertheless, the Syrian Kurds are worried that America only wants to use the Kurds to fight the Islamic State, and not to recognize their political rights. The Kurds hope that in the future, the Americans will help them to become part of the peace talks as an independent delegation. Syrian rebels gains ground near Raqqa [ARA News] RAQQA – Supported by the US-led coalition, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Wednesday continued their operations against the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS) in the northern countryside of Raqqa for the second consecutive day. The SDF troops on Wednesday recaptured four villages in the northern countryside of Raqqa–the de facto capital of the Islamic State. “Our forces advanced in Raqqa, regaining territory with a depth of more than 6km from the northern border of the province,” the SDF leadership said in a statement. Subsequent to clashes with ISIS militant fighters, the SDF alliance liberated the villages of Qartaja, al-Fastah, Indebin and Matmasraja. “We have also expelled ISIS terrorists from the surrounding farms. The liberated areas will serve as a pad from which our troops could extend their operations until liberating the entire northern countryside of Raqqa from those terrorists, and then advance towards the city itself,” SDF officer Hebun Osman told ARA News. The western-backed SDF troop also destroyed two ISIS vehicles and seized a deal of ammunition after recapturing the four villages on Wednesday. According to the Kurdish officer, the coalition’s air cover is helping their troops to advance on the ground. “The battle for northern Raqqa has started, and our advance will continue until we cleanse the entire province from ISIS,” Osman said. The western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday afternoon launched an operation to capture the countryside of Raqqa from the Islamic State (ISIS) group, military sources told ARA News. “Cleansing these territories from ISIS starts now from the north of Raqqa,” Kurdish Defence Minister of the Rojava Auto-Administration told ARA News in Kobane. “We began the operation to liberate northern Raqqa with the participation of all the Syrian democratic forces and the support of the international coalition aircraft. The goal of the campaign is to liberate the people of this region from the injustices of the ISIS mercenaries. Through this campaign, we will liberate the north of Raqqa,” said Abu Fayyad, SDF commander in Tel Abyad city–north of Raqqa. “This operation is important in that it will continue to apply direct pressure on ISIS inside of the city of Raqqa,” Washington-based Middle East researcher at the Centre for a New American Security, Nicholas Heras, told ARA News. “However, the importance of the current campaign should not be overstated. There is still some time left to go before the civil and military structures to replace ISIS in the city of Raqqa have been built up by the Coalition through the SDF.” US aircraft support Syrian rebels' bid in Raqqa attack [ARA News] KOBANE – Aircraft of the US-led coalition on Tuesday launched a number of airstrikes on headquarters of the Islamic State (ISIS) radical group in Syria’s northeastern Raqqa province. This comes as the Kurdish-Led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) started a campaign to liberate Raqqa province from ISIS militants. In its first phase, the SDF campaign would focus on capturing the countryside of Raqqa, which will serve as a launching pad for more operations against ISIS in its de facto capital in the future. “US-led coalition’s fighter jets launched over a dozen airstrikes against ISIS tactical units and fighting positions in northern Raqqa,” SDF officer Habun Osman told ARA News. “The raids bombed ISIS in the southeastern suburb of Ain Issa town in northern Raqqa.” “The coalition’s air cover is helping our troops to advance on the ground,” Osman said. The Kurdish officer reported that SDF troops were engaged in fierce clashes with ISIS near the Jubriyat Khalil town of Raqqa province on Tuesday evening. The western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday afternoon launched an operation to capture the countryside of Raqqa from the Islamic State (ISIS) group, military sources told ARA News. “Cleansing these territories from ISIS starts now from the north of Raqqa,” Kurdish Defence Minister of the Rojava Auto-Administration told ARA News in Kobane. “We began the operation to liberate northern Raqqa with the participation of all the Syrian democratic forces and the support of the international coalition aircraft. The goal of the campaign is to liberate the people of this region from the injustices of the ISIS mercenaries. Through this campaign, we will liberate the north of Raqqa,” said Abu Fayyad, SDF commander in Tel Abyad city–north of Raqqa. |
| Posted by:badanov |