BEIRUT: US-backed Syrian militias closed in on Daesh’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa on Wednesday, taking territory on the south bank of the Euphrates River with the aim of encircling the city, a militia spokesman told Reuters.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which includes Arab and Kurdish fighters and are supported with airstrikes by a US-led coalition, began an offensive two weeks ago to seize the northern city from Daesh, which overran it in 2014.
Nouri Mahmoud, spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militia, which is part of the SDF, told Reuters Daesh had been ousted from the suburb of Kasrat Al-Farj as the SDF moved in along the southern riverbank from the west.
When the campaign began the SDF had Raqqa, which sits on the Euphrates’ northern bank, surrounded from the north, west and east. Although Daesh controlled the south bank of the river, coalition airstrikes had destroyed the bridges connecting it to the city.
The SDF is now trying to enact a siege of the city by taking the southern bank. The forces are a couple of kilometers from achieving this aim.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said on Wednesday SDF forces had moved along the southern riverbank to reach the eastern edge of Kasrat Al-Farj, in the area between the new and old bridges into Raqqa.
Daesh is also facing defeat in its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul and is being forced into retreat across much of Syria, where Deir Al-Zor in eastern Syria is its last major foothold.
After Daesh
Meanwhile, local Syrians who have escaped the battlefield are worried about what comes after the fight.
Dozens of them have volunteered to help rebuild the town once the militants have been defeated.
The aim of organization they have joined, the Raqqa Civil Council (RCC), is to restore order and keep the peace in a place where further violence could fuel the rise of a new set of extremists with global ambitions.
The RCC was established in April by Kurdish and Arab allies of the US-led coalition that began attacking Raqqa this month, to replace militant rule in a part of Syria long beyond President Bashar Assad’s control.
The campaign against Daesh has accelerated since US President Donald Trump took office in January with the militants now facing defeat in both Raqqa and Mosul in Iraq.
US-backed Syrian forces close in on Raqqa from south
US-backed Syrian forces close in on Raqqa from south
Sudan paramilitary advances near Ethiopia border
- Sudan’s Kordofan region, where the SPLM-N has its other foothold in the Nuba Mountains, is currently the war’s fiercest battleground
KHARTOUM: Sudanese paramilitary forces have advanced on army positions near the southeastern border with Ethiopia, according to the group and an eyewitness who spoke to AFP Wednesday.
Control over Sudan’s southeastern Blue Nile State, bordering both Ethiopia and South Sudan, is split between the army and a faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, allies of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
In a statement released Tuesday, the SPLM-N, led by Abdelaziz Al-Hilu, said they had “liberated the strategic city of Deim Mansour and areas of Bashir Nuqu and Khor Al-Budi.”
Since April 2023, the Sudanese army has been at war with the RSF. In February of last year, the RSF announced a surprise alliance with the SPLM-N, securing experienced fighters, land and border access.
Deim Mansour lies between the SPLM-N stronghold Yabus, birthplace of their deputy commander Joseph Tuka, and the army-held town of Kurmuk, which hosts a large army contingent.
Babiker Khaled, who fled to Kurmuk, told AFP that SPLM-N fighters began amassing in the forests around Deim Mansour on Sunday.
“The shelling began on Monday, they entered the city on Tuesday,” he said, adding that “some people fled into Ethiopia, others arrived in Kurmuk.”
From its foothold in the southern Blue Nile, a thin strip of land jutting south between Ethiopia and South Sudan, the SPLM-N maintains reported supply lines from both countries, building on decades-old links.
Close to three years of war in Sudan have left tens of thousands dead and around 11 million displaced, creating the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
It has also torn the country apart, with the army holding the center, north and east of Sudan while the RSF and its allies dominate the west and parts of the south.
Sudan’s Kordofan region, where the SPLM-N has its other foothold in the Nuba Mountains, is currently the war’s fiercest battleground.
On Tuesday, the army broke a paramilitary siege on South Kordofan state capital Kadugli, days after breaking another on the nearby city of Dilling.
