One more defeat to ISIS in Syria; Syrian forces reclaimed Raqqa city

NewsBharati    18-Oct-2017
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Beirut, October 18: The historic fall of Islamic State terror outfit which is the most dangerous terrorist organization continues in Syria. Notably, this time ISIS has lost its own capital Raqqa city, which was its capital. US-backed Syrian forces reclaimed the city of Raqqa from Islamic State on Wednesday.

 

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters backed by US fighters made a formal declaration of victory on ISIS and celebrated in a grand manner. However, a search of ISIS sleeper cell is still on.

A spokeswoman for the Syrian Democratic Forces said that once the area is cleared Raqqa will be rebuilt so that the city will become more beautiful than it was before. “Once again Raqqa will become beautiful,” she added.

The Syrian forces launched a massive offensive on Raqqa four months before. However, during the fierce battle between Syrian forces and ISIS terrorists caused the death of hundreds of civilian deaths. Now, ISIS lost much of their territory in Syria and Iraq this year, including its most prized possession, Mosul. In Syria, it has been forced back into a strip of the Euphrates valley and surrounding desert.

Interestingly, Raqqa was the first big city Islamic State captured before the victories in Iraq and Syria brought millions of people under the rule of its self-declared caliphate, which passed laws and issued passports and money.

Earlier, on October 6 of this year, Syrian military backed by the US-led coalition has cleared Islamic State from its last pocket of territory in central Syria after months of fighting. Syrian forces have also reclaimed Homs city and Aleppo from the possession of Islamic States.

Background:

Syria is affected by the civil war since many years due to which thousands of civilians lost their lives while millions were displaced. However, the civil war in Syria has erupted due to clashes between many terrorist organizations and government forces. At least 1,70,000 foreign terrorists have fought under different banners throughout Syria’s civil war.

Over 80,000 foreigners from countries such as Tunisia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France and the Caucasus have been recruited and traveled to Syria between 2013 and 2016 to fight alongside ISIS. This recruitment has been ongoing since 2013. Foreigners comprised up to 85% of ISIS terrorists, and despite the operation launched in mid-2016 to rout the terror organization from Iraq and Syria, over 20,000 foreign terrorists are still fighting alongside ISIS.