MESOP BACKGROUNDER : TRUMP FIGHTS WITH PKK/PYD AND vice versa

Syria Daily: Kurdish-Led SDF Advances in ISIS-Held Raqqa

By Scott Lucas – eaworldview – 26 June 2017 – The Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces advanced further on Sunday inside the city of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s central position in Syria.

The SDF took the al-Qadisia district, their fifth in Raqqa, after three days of intense fighting.

After months of preparation and political maneuvers, the SDF finally moved into Raqqa in early June, backed by US weapons, special forces, and airstrikes. They have advanced from both the west, where al-Qadisia is located, and the east, and have cut off ISIS to the south by taking positions along the Euphrates River.

Several hundred civilians have been killed in and near Raqqa this year. The head of the UN inquiry team on Syria spoke in mid-June of the “staggering” death toll and said 160,000 people had been displaced from the area.

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