In Syria, night is a friend to anti-ISIL fighters

After a night on the front line in Raqqa, Syrian Democratic Forces catch up with rest during the day.

Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG) fires rifles at a drone operated by ISIL militants in Raqqa, Syria Jon une 16, 2017. Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

RAQQA // Faced with an onslaught of armed drones, mortar rounds and snipers, US-backed fighters in Syria’s Raqqa say the cover of night is a good ally against ISIL.

The Syrian Democratic Forces are battling to throw the extremists out of the northern city after breaking into its first neighbourhood last week.

After piercing and taking the south-eastern district of Al Meshleb, the SDF fighters are now advancing towards the Old City.

In the daylight hours, at a flat in Al Meshleb, the Kurdish-led fighters catch some rest or sip tea after a night on the front line at the edge of the city centre.

“We prefer to fight in the dark as we have thermal binoculars and weapons equipped with night vision scopes,” says 20-year-old Kawa, giving his nom de guerre.

“There was fighting last night but not for long. The jihadists withdrew rapidly, faced with our attacks,” says the clean-shaven SDF fighter.

On the flat’s balcony, he tries to liaise on a walkie-talkie with a fellow fighter at the front, but on the other end his colleague comes under fire.

“IS is attacking our positions with mortar fire. I’ll get back to you when the bombardment stops,” the fighter on the other end of the line says.

In Al Meshleb, SDF fighters sometimes run into shops and houses to avoid ISIL’s armed drones.

Tolhildan Botan points to one such small unmanned aircraft at the foot of a wall in the district, which he says fellow fighters had shot down.

“This is the kind of drone they use to target gatherings of fighters or military vehicles. Sometimes they even target civilians,” says the SDF fighter.

Baran Hassake, a fellow fighter, says battling the extremists is easier at night.

“We advance and gain ground faster and they struggle to respond to our attacks,” the 18-year-old says, his head wrapped in a red scarf embroidered with green flowers.

“We know now their tactics,” Hassake says, boasting of knowledge acquired by the SDF after recapturing several ISIL bastions in Syria.

Empty mortar rounds litter the ground, while the corpses of ISIL fighters can be seen in the rubble of some buildings.

The US-led coalition backing the SDF has also been intensifying its air strikes at night, SDF commanders and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor say.

The United Nations on Wednesday warned of the danger for civilians of “excessive” air strikes on the city, where it says about 160,000 remain.

The SDF has retaken three neighbourhoods since entering the city on June 6, including Al Senaa next to the Old City on Thursday.

This latest advance will allow SDF fighters to launch an assault on the Old City in Raqqa’s densely populated centre, which contains key ISIL positions.

On another balcony in Al Meshleb, Mesaab Al Hussein looks out across Al Senaa and towards the city walls of ancient Raqqa, which date back to the Abbasid caliphate.

From 796 to 809, the caliph Harun Al Rashid transferred the capital of his empire from Baghdad to Raqqa, which sat at the crossroads of key trade routes.

“The SDF are nearing a part of the wall known as Baghdad Gate,” Hussein says.

Pointing to an ISIL flag in the distance, he adds: “We will liberate the entire city.”

* Agence France-Presse