US backed forces open a second front against ISIS caliphate capital

BBC:
US-backed Syrian forces have advanced into the western part of so-called Islamic State's "capital" of Raqqa, they and a monitor report.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the move had opened up a second front inside the Syrian city. They entered the eastern part earlier this week.

Its fighters were engaged in fierce clashes with the jihadists, it said.

The SDF, supported by US-led coalition air strikes, has spent months encircling the city.

"The SDF captured the western half of the Al-Sabahiya neighbourhood and are reinforcing their positions there," the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP news agency on Saturday.

"They then advanced north to the adjacent district of Al-Romaniya and are fighting IS there."

A statement from the SDF's Operation Wrath of the Euphrates said its fighters had stormed Al-Romaniya and were locked "in fierce fighting inside the district".

Raqqa, which has been held by IS since 2014, is an important hub for the jihadist group's operations and is reportedly defended by up to 4,000 fighters.
...
It is interesting that the Brit papers are doing a better job of covering this important fight than are the major US papers who seem wrapped in their coup attempt against President Trump.

It does appear that the US is pressing ISIS on various fronts and cutting off escape routes in the attempt to annihilate enemy forces so they cannot scatter for terrorist operations elsewhere.

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