[Breaking news update 10:30 a.m. ET]
A US-led joint task force has acknowledged a push launched by Syrian militia groups Sunday to liberate Raqqa, the de facto capital of the ISIS extremist group.
In a statement, the task force carrying out Operation Inherent Resolve to defeat ISIS said it continued its support of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who launched the offensive.
“Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve Commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend has said previously in Pentagon Press Corps Briefings that the Coalition supports the SDF isolation of Raqqah,” it said, using an alternative spelling for the city.
“The SDF is the partner force most capable of acting soon to isolate Raqqah and commenced movement toward Raqqah on 5 November,” the statement said.
[Previous story published 8:40 a.m. ET]
US-backed militia groups in Syria said Sunday they’re launching an operation to seize ISIS’ de facto capital, Raqqa, in coordination with international coalition forces.
According to the statement, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) established a joint operations center Saturday night for the military campaign “Euphrates Rage,” which includes multiple Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen militia groups.
The operation was announced just days after Iraqi forces entered the city of Mosul, where they are now in a fierce battle with ISIS militants.
“We are starting an operation to liberate Raqqa from ISIS… the operation will be done with American aerial cover,” Brig. Gen. Talal Ali Selo, the spokesman for the SDF, told CNN Sunday.
“[The operation] will start by taking Raqqa countryside and then the goal is the city,” Selo added.
There has been no comment so far from US officials confirming the operation, but French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Sunday that recent talks between defense ministers from the United States and other major powers touched on organizing the plan to reconquer Mosul as well as Raqqa.
And last month, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said an offensive to liberate Raqqa would come in a “matter of weeks” amid fears the terror group was plotting an attack somewhere around the world from inside the city.
US officials commented that there would possibly be “overlap” between the operations in Mosul and Raqqa.
Fierce battle ahead
The SDF also called on civilians of Raqqa — who are believed to have minimal access to the media or Internet — to avoid positions where ISIS fighters may gather as these will be considered strike targets “by our forces and by coalition forces.”
This wording is reminiscent of leaflets that were dropped on the ISIS stronghold of Mosul in Iraq before the battle to retake that city began October 17.
The statement also called on regional and international powers to provide logistical, moral and political support for the factions participating in this “liberation operation.”
While the city of Raqqa is smaller than Mosul, the battle to retake it is expected to be fierce. It’s ISIS’ heartland and also sits in the middle of the country’s ongoing civil war, which includes foreign actors such as the US and Russia.
The SDF alliance also includes the Kurdish YPG, which Turkey considers a terrorist group.
Ankara backs a different group of rebels, the Free Syrian Army, in an ongoing military operation in northern Syria launched in mid-August and dubbed “Euphrates Shield.”
Those Turkish-backed groups have made gains against ISIS but have also clashed with Kurdish groups, including the YPG and others in the SDF alliance.
Fears of slaughter
In Raqqa, news that the militia groups are coming have been met with fear, said CNN International Correspondent Will Ripley. With little access to the media and Internet, people no longer know who to trust, he said.
“Because one thing ISIS has been telling the civilians in Raqqa is that when the Kurdish fighters come into their city they will be slaughtered in the street,” he said, adding that it was significant that Kurdish and Arab militia groups were working together.
ISIS wrested full control of Raqqa in 2014 and declared it the capital of its envisaged caliphate, or so-called Islamic State.
It has ruled the city with brutal force, using medieval-style punishments for “offenses” such as smoking and shaving beards.
In recent weeks there appears to have been movement of ISIS fighters between Raqqa and Mosul, some 467 km (295 miles) away in neighboring Iraq, witnesses told CNN.
Some in Mosul have said ISIS was sending suicide squads from Raqqa to their city, while others have witnessed ISIS fighters and their families fleeing Mosul on buses, headed west in the direction of Raqqa. Iraqi-led forces recently cut the main road out of Mosul toward Syria.