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| Syria conflict: Rebel force targets IS 'capital' Raqqa | Syria conflict: Rebel force targets IS 'capital' Raqqa |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A US-backed Kurdish and Arab force says it is starting an operation to capture Raqqa, so-called Islamic State's "capital" in Syria. | |
| The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) say they will be aided by US-led coalition air strikes and will begin in hours. | |
| They have also warned civilians to steer clear of areas where IS militants are present. | They have also warned civilians to steer clear of areas where IS militants are present. |
| The coalition of Kurdish and ethnic Arab militias has been gaining ground in areas to the north of the city. | The coalition of Kurdish and ethnic Arab militias has been gaining ground in areas to the north of the city. |
| The operation comes as US-backed Iraqi forces continue their campaign to push IS militants out of their Iraqi stronghold of Mosul. | |
| The SDF alliance, which is dominated by the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG) militia, has emerged as a key ally of the US-led coalition over the past two years, leading the fight against IS on the ground in northern Syria. | |
| Turkey, Syria's closest neighbour to the north, is not expected to take part. It considers the YPG a terror organisation and says it will not accept a role for the Kurds in the liberation of Raqqa. | |
| Raqqa was named the de facto capital of the "caliphate" proclaimed by IS in 2014. | |
| A report by IHS Conflict Monitor in October 2016 said the jihadists had lost about 16% of the territory they held at the beginning of the year, and that overall they had lost just over a quarter of the territory they controlled in January 2015. | |
| Analysis: Mark Lowen, BBC Turkey correspondent | |
| The operation has been called "Anger of the Euphrates". | |
| But the heavy Kurdish involvement is problematic: Raqqa is a mainly Arab city and there are fears that Kurdish fighters have expelled Arabs from other towns that they have taken. It has also provoked anger from Turkey, which sees Syrian Kurdish fighters as an extension of the Kurdish militia, the PKK, seen by Turkey and the west as terrorists. | |
| The US was keen to launch the Raqqa offensive at the same time as the fight for Mosul in Iraq, to prevent IS fighters from retreating to Syria. | |
| But this will be an even harder fight than Mosul: although all factions in the Syrian war are against IS, they're also fighting each other and a second, proxy war complicates things further. To wrench Raqqa from the hands of the jihadists will be a long, tough fight. |