U.S.-backed Syria fighters advance in Raqa, battle for base

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S.-backed Syrian fighters seized a second district of Raqa on Sunday, June 11, and launched a renewed assault on a base north of the city, as they pursued an offensive against the Islamic State group, AFP reports.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) broke into Raqa earlier this week after announcing the start of a final assault on the IS-held city.

On Sunday, the Arab-Kurdish alliance said its fighters had "liberated the neighbourhood of Al-Romaniya on the western front of Raqa, after two days of continued clashes".

The SDF also holds the Al-Meshleb district, which it seized after announcing the final push for Raqa city on Tuesday.

On Sunday, fighters in Al-Meshleb were pushing deeper towards the city centre.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said they had also seized almost half the adjacent district of Al-Senaa from the jihadists.

"If they're able to take the whole neighbourhood, it would be their most important advance to date because it would put them at the gates of the Old City," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The western approach to the city was littered with mangled motorcycles and unexploded mortar rounds fired by IS, an AFP correspondent said.

Three bodies of alleged IS fighters lay in the eerily empty streets of western Raqa, and SDF commanders took up positions on the rooftops of one-storey houses.

The SDF fighters appeared on edge, both over IS-planted mines and reconnaissance drones that the jihadists have weaponised.

"Daesh is shooting anyone who sticks their head out," one SDF fighter said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

Artillery, sniper fire and air strikes rang out throughout the day and thick black smoke billowed from the city skyline.