WORLD NEWS: SYRIA - Anti-IS Forces Close In On Group's Raqqa Headquarters

The armed groups making up the Syrian Democratic Forces are now at the gates of the IS headquarters in Raqqa.

The city where the terror group has been holed up for the past two years is next on the list to be freed from its extremist stranglehold.

This army, made up of Arabs, Christians but mostly Kurds from the YPG and YPJ fighting units, has been helped by coalition airstrikes 'softening up’ the IS-held communities before the troops move in on the ground.


We are the only foreign journalists allowed access into the Democratic Forces' inner circle - allowed to travel with the troops, stay with them on their bases, as well as eat and sleep alongside the fighters as they make their slow advance through northern Syria, trying to push IS militants out of the area.
We witnessed their sniper team in operation as well as the work of the anti-mining crew.

We saw three of their top commanders coordinating a pincer movement aimed at creating a safe arc around the north-east of Syria. 
And we spoke to a number of foreign volunteers, from the UK, US, Poland and Canada who have flocked to the war-torn country.  
Most have zero military experience.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is largely led by the hardy fighters of the Kurdish YPG who have been fighting for rights in Syria for decades.
As one senior Kurdish leader told me, “We have no right to even call ourselves Kurds.
“We cannot own land or buy houses.
“We don't have the right to have an identification card.

“We have no rights at all.”
The YPG have seized on the destabilisation in Syria to carve out territory in the north. 
The area of Rojava came into being about four years ago and is being run as a 'model' of democracy, they insist.
They hope it will form part of a future Federal Syria and even envisage the embattled President Bashar al Assad running his own area in the West, taking in Latakia and Damascus. 

Hediye Yusuf – who was imprisoned by President Assad's regime and tortured during her three years in jail - is one of the appointed co-presidents. 
She told me they would have elections in Rojava once the country was more stable and less of a war-zone.
The former fighter says she could now work with Assad, with one caveat: he has to accept and embrace democracy: “Yes. If he does that, why not?” she tells me.

But right now on the frontline, the focus is on pushing IS militants out and re-taking communities.
We saw how the forces encircled 2,400 kilometres of IS territory with - as they described it - the ‘pinch point’ being the city of Al Shaddadi. 
The troops advanced from Al Shaddadi along the southern face of the Adbul Aziz mountains to link up with a second group from the SDF, attacking from Saluk near the Turkish border.
The move cut off a huge chunk of IS land - nearly 4,000 square miles.
The troops swept through communities and remote villages mostly without resistance, arresting IS suspects and questioning the menfolk.

The IS militants were either taken by surprise or fled.
IS is resorting more and more to suicide car bomb attacks, and as the advancing troops moved forward, any moving vehicles in isolated communities were warned off with gunfire.

The Syrian Democratic Forces are now within 20 miles (30km) of Raqqa.
That would be the real prize.
It is considered the heart of the fundamentalists in Syria, where they have been dug in for two years.
It is not expected to be easy. 
Follow The Forefront on facebook Global audience /facebook Nigerian audience  /The Blogger's  facebook personal account   and facebook  (fan page)/  &  twitter

Instagram Global photos and vlog: osagiejoshua

BBM Channel: C002CB006

ADVERTISE WITH THE FOREFRONT: +234-803-698-6103. For more details CLICK HERE NOW


You don't want to have this information alone. Share this story with others on social media with options below.