Raqqa - Page 4

U.S. government and military leaders have begun the mission to convince the government of Turkey that cooperating with Syrian Kurdish militias, which Ankara considers terrorist elements, is the only way to defeat the Islamic State in its self-proclaimed capital, Raqqa.

U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian forces have announced the start of a campaign to retake the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa from the extremist group.

A U.S.-backed assault on Raqqa, Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria, is unlikely to pierce the city itself before President Barack Obama leaves office in January, denying him the chance to claim the end of the group’s “caliphate” as part of his legacy.

For Shawakh Gharib, it’s time to take revenge. With the start of the offensive to conquer Raqqa, the Syrian fighter believes his dream of going home will soon come true.

A Pentagon spokesman has confirmed that the United States is seeking to begin the operation to liberate Raqqa, Syria, of the Islamic State terrorist group as soon as a parallel operation in Mosul, Iraq, is complete.

Iraqi forces fought their way into jihadist-held Mosul on Tuesday as a top commander said the “true liberation” of the city from the Islamic State group had begun.

Islamic State jihadists are using “suicide squads” from Syria to defend its last major stronghold in Iraq, Mosul, as a U.S.-backed force of up to 30,000 advance towards the city to push the terrorist group out, CNN has learned from witnesses.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made clear he wants Turkey to play a significant role in the liberation of Mosul, Iraq, from the Islamic State (ISIS). The Iraqi government has rejected Turkey’s advances, however, and while Erdogan waits for an opportunity to participate in that offensive, he has begun discussing similar military activity against ISIS “capital,” Raqqa, Syria.

The armed forces of Iraq will directly attack their Turkish counterparts if the government of Turkey decides to deploy more troops to fight the Islamic State within that country, Iraqi officials have reportedly said, following blistering statements from Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned it will not participate in a U.S.-led coalition offensive to push the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) out of Raqqa, its de facto capital in Syria, if the Syrian Kurds are also involved in the operation.

The world’s most wanted female terrorist, the British Islamic convert Sally Jones, is believed to be training female Islamic State recruits to stage attacks on the West, it has been revealed.

TEL AVIV – Backed up by U.S. drones and American military advisers, Turkey on Wednesday launched a major military incursion across the border into neighboring Syria, deploying special operations ground forces and tanks while simultaneously launching airstrikes targeting Islamic State strongholds.

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One of three ‘Jihadi brides’ schoolgirls who left East London in February of 2015 to join Islamic State (IS) has died in the war zone, her family’s lawyer has revealed.

Tensions within the Islamic State’s ranks appear to have boiled over at a training camp in Iraq, where an exasperated “foreign jihadi leader” opened fire on his own disobedient troops, sparking a gun battle that killed two and wounded 20 more.

On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced that the Pentagon would investigate claims by human-rights organizations – including the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Amnesty International, and the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces – that American airstrikes have killed over 100 civilians since June. Some estimates say the death toll could be closer to double that number.

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The Islamic State organization has published pictures taken at an “execution ceremony” for an Iraqi man the terror group says was convicted of engaging in witchcraft and fortune telling.

TEL AVIV – As the anti-Islamic State coalition forces prepared to strike the terrorist group’s strongholds in Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, the Islamic State’s propaganda apparatus continued to release gory photos of so-called justice from areas under its control.

Islamic State militants on Saturday pushed back U.S.-backed forces trying to advance into their stronghold of Manbij for the first time since a major offensive to capture the city and cut off the militants’ main strategic access route to Turkey, a monitoring group and Kurdish sources said.

As Iraqi and international forces make preparations ahead of a final offensive on Mosul, the Islamic State’s stronghold in Iraq, and Russian forces continue their assault on Raqqa, IS’s Syrian “capital,” the radical organization’s propaganda apparatus is apparently trying to

TEL AVIV – According to an unconfirmed report in the respected Turkish daily Yenis Safak newspaper, Islamic State Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in a US air strike in Raqqa.

Iraqi forces secured the southern edge of the Islamic State group stronghold of Fallujah on Sunday, two weeks after the launch of an operation to recapture the city, the Iraqi special forces commander overseeing the operation said.

JAFFA, Israel – The Syrian army reportedly reached the edge of the Raqqa region on Saturday, coming within the vicinity of the self-styled capital of the Islamic State’s “caliphate” for the first time since 2014.

The Syrian army has crossed the boundary of Raqqa province after advancing in a major Russian-backed offensive against Islamic State militants, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that monitors the war, said on Saturday. Heavy Russian air strikes

BEIRUT (AFP) – At least 42 civilians including five children were killed in regime, Russian and US-led coalition air strikes in northern Syria on Wednesday, a monitor said.

Islamic State on Tuesday urged Muslims to destroy their satellite TV sets to prevent hostile channels “destroying their beliefs and polluting their ethics”. The ultra-hardline Sunni group issued its call as military pressure increased against it with offensives targeting its

Kurdish and Arab forces – including U.S.-backed Iraqi troops, Shiite militias linked to Iran, Peshmerga troops, and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – have launched offensives targeting three major Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

A U.S.-backed alliance of Syrian militias is widening an offensive against Islamic State near its de facto capital of Raqqa, targeting an area where the group controls a disused air base, a monitoring group and a Kurdish official said on Monday.

The Rudaw news service reports that provincial authorities in Erbil expect up to 900,000 refugees to flee the war zones of Fallujah and Mosul into Iraqi Kurdistan, but the central government in Baghdad has been slow to coordinate with the Kurds.

U.S. Special Forces fighting side-by-side with the Kurds in Syria are now just 18 miles from ISIS’ de facto capital, Raqqa.

The Washington Times reports: The Pentagon insisted Thursday that U.S. forces in Syria and elsewhere in the region remain in noncombat roles despite reports that they are fighting alongside Syrian front-line troops in their push to retake the Islamic State group’s capital in Raqqa.

A U.S.-backed alliance of Syrian militias launched a new offensive against Islamic State fighters near their de facto capital of Raqqa city on Tuesday, a monitoring group and an official said.

The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has “destroyed” Russian military equipment kept at a strategic Bashar al-Assad airbase in central Syria, according to recently released satellite images.

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