US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces advance into Raqqa
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (|SDF), led by a Kurdish militia, captured the western Raqqa neighborhood of Al-Sabahiya and are advancing north to the Al Romaniya district,” an SDF communiqué reported Saturday night. Another contingent has been moving into the eastern sector. DEBKAfile’s military sources add that the Kurdish-led force has not penetrated very deep into Raqqa, which some months ago ceased to function as the Islamic State’s Syrian capital. Its role as a preferred coalition target declined with the exodus of most of the jihadist group’s high officials to relocate in southeastern Syria and Iraqi border towns. They left behind a small outpost of a few hundred fighters.