WHEN Raqqa became the first major city of the Syrian uprising to fall into rebel hands in March 2013, local activists were so ecstatic that they nicknamed the agricultural metropolis the “icon of the revolution”. But hope gave way to despair when jihadists of Islamic State (IS) drove into town months later. Its new overlords soon gave the city a darker epithet: “capital of the caliphate”.
Raqqa, which IS has used to plot attacks against the West, may soon now shake off the label. On June 6th, American-backed rebel forces punched their way into the besieged city for the first time, heralding the start of the battle to drive the extremists from one of their last urban strongholds (they are being squeezed out of Mosul in Iraq, too). As heavy artillery and American warplanes pounded IS positions, the combined force of Kurdish and Arab fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), broke through the jihadists’ lines in the east. Other units attacked a heavily mined...Continue reading
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