US-backed Syrian fighters advanced toward the city of Raqqa, capturing several villages from the Islamic State. Military officials predict the battle to drive the Islamic State from their main stronghold in Syria would not be easy, as ground forces continue to make gains surrounding the city of Raqqa, supported by airstrikes mounted by the US-led coalition. The operation by SDF, the Syrian Democratic Forces, which includes the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and some Arab groups, aims to lay siege on the city, a move that will add pressure on the extreme Muslim group, as it faces a major assault on its last Iraqi Stronghold, Mosul.
“Our struggle has been continuing for two days now. We are making our way to Raqqa. We will rescue people in that region. We are heading to Leqta. It is a strategic village where gangs (Islamic States militants) prepare car bombs. We are moving together with YPG and YPJ forces. We will cleanse those regions from the gangs. Victory will be ours,” said an SDF Fighter – Member of the Kurdish YPG Militia. The fact that the YPG militia is taking part in the battle for Raqqa is angering Ankara, which views the Kurdish militants as part of the PKK, an internationally recognized terror organization that waged a three-decade insurgency against Turkey. Speaking at a news conference in the Turkish capital, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, accusing the United States for arming the group, warning that Western weapons are being used in terror activities on Turkish soil.
“The United States say they don’t supply weapons to YPG (People’s Protection Units). We know they do since Kobani assault. We seized some of these weapons on PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) militants in Turkey. As a matter of fact, there is no difference between PKK and YPG. Nobody should bother to tell us otherwise. Nobody should try to convince us otherwise. We know the truth. They are using the same camp, same militants. It’s the same terrorist group,” said Cavusuglu.
In the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, the Syrian Army and its allies said they had regained control of a strategically significant area on the southwestern outskirts of the embattled city, after heavy clashes with rebel forces. That said, there are conflicting accounts from sources on both sides of the fighting as to who is now in control of the district, which lies alongside the government’s corridor into parts of the city it controls. Nevertheless, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group that reports on the war, said government forces and their allies had seized full control of the district, calling it the most significant gain by the government in Aleppo since September. Meanwhile, it is reported that the gains made by the Syrian government forces are without Russian air support, as the Kremlin continues to enforce a ceasefire in Syria’s Aleppo. Moscow stressed that the ceasefire would be enforced as long as rebels, fighting along-side al-Qaeda-linked Jihadists, refrain from launching an offensive on government-held areas.