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Syria war: US-backed forces 'control' Raqqa Raqqa: IS 'capital' falls to US-backed Syrian forces
(about 4 hours later)
US-backed forces in Syria say they now control so-called Islamic State's one-time capital of Raqqa, with only a few dozen militants remaining in the city. A US-backed alliance of Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters says it has taken full control of so-called Islamic State's one-time "capital" of Raqqa.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said they had retaken al-Naim square, where IS once held public executions. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spokesman Talal Sello said the fighting was over after a four-month assault.
The official declaration that the city has been recaptured is expected soon, a BBC correspondent reports. Clearing operations were now under way to uncover any jihadist sleeper cells and remove landmines, he added.
Earlier, a convoy of local IS fighters and their families left Raqqa as part of a planned departure. A formal declaration of the city's "liberation" and the end of three years of IS rule is expected to be made soon.
No foreign fighters were allowed to join them, the SDF said. Earlier on Tuesday, the SDF cleared the last two major IS positions in Raqqa - the municipal stadium and the National Hospital.
More than 3,000 civilians have escaped the city in recent days, local forces say. Reuters news agency reported that fighters raised the flag of Popular Protection Units, a Kurdish militia that dominates the SDF, inside the stadium and celebrated in the streets and chanted slogans from their vehicles.
Raqqa was one of the first large cities IS took over in 2014. Dozens of foreign militants were believed to have made their last stand in the stadium, while 22 were reportedly killed in the final attack on the hospital.
But the SDF, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, has been besieging the city for almost four months. Up to 300 militants were thought to be holding out on Sunday, after Syrian jihadists and their families were evacuated under a deal negotiated by tribal elders.
On Tuesday, the SDF said it had taken the city's hospital, one of the last pockets of IS resistance. However, IS fighters were still holding out in Raqqa's stadium. "Everything is finished in Raqqa, our forces have taken full control of Raqqa," Mr Sello told AFP news agency on Tuesday afternoon.
There were no air strikes for the first time in months on Monday, though fighting is still going on, reports the BBC's Feras Kilani in the city. "The military operations in Raqqa have finished, but there are clearing operations now under way to uncover any sleeper cells there might be and remove mines."
Earlier, an SDF vehicle was seen patrolling the ruined streets with a loud speaker urging people to come out of into the open and "eat hot soup". IS seized Raqqa in early 2014, months after it became the first Syrian provincial capital to fall to the rebels in the civil war, and made it the headquarters of its self-styled "caliphate".
The SDF's decision to allow some of the militants to go out of the city, leaving only a hardcore group of fighters behind, was designed to shorten the battle. Raqqa was transformed by the group, which implemented an extreme interpretation of Islamic law and used beheadings, crucifixions and torture to terrorise residents who opposed its rule.
The loss of Raqqa will be seen as another blow for IS, which has been steadily losing ground in both Syria and Iraq over the last two years. At the same time, Raqqa became home to thousands of jihadists from around the world who heeded a call to migrate there by IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
IS, which attracted fighters from across the globe with its extreme interpretation of Islamic law, used beheadings, crucifixions and torture to terrorise residents who opposed its rule. About 15,000 SDF fighters, supported by US-led coalition air strikes and special forces on the ground, began an operation to capture Raqqa last November.
They encircled the city before breaching IS defences on the outskirts in June.