ANKARA // The battle to capture Raqqa from ISIL began last week, Turkey’s prime minister said on Sunday, a day after US-backed Syrian forces said their push into the northern city would “begin in a few days”.
“The long-planned Raqqa operation began late on June 2” after the US informed Turkey of the operation, Binali Yildirim said, without providing further details.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) seized a town and dam to the west of Raqqa at the weekend and have been closing in on ISIL’s self-declared capital since November.
The Raqqa operation has been a deep source of tension between Washington and Ankara because of US support for the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), a major component of the SDF.
The US considers the YPG the most effective fighting force against ISIL in Syria and has provided air cover, assistance from special forces on the ground and weaponry. However, Ankara sees the YPG as a “terror group” linked to Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) separatists inside Turkey.
The Raqqa assault will pile more pressure on ISIL’s self-declared “caliphate” as it faces defeat in the Iraqi city of Mosul and retreats across much of Syria.
A Syrian military source said the army seized a key town from ISIL in the east of Aleppo province on Saturday.
The capture of Maskana, on the western bank of Lake Assad, comes as part of a major Russian-backed military operation that began in mid-January to drive the extremists from Aleppo province.
Maskana was a key target for the Syrian army, and lies about 15 kilometres from neighbouring Raqqa province.
“Maskana area is the last important civilian population centre on the eastern border of Aleppo province before Raqqa province, the military source told Syrian state media.
“Whoever controls Maskana controls the axes running between Aleppo city and Raqqa city.”
* Agence France-Presse