HUKOUMIYA, Syria/BEIRUT (Reuters) – The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Tuesday it had launched a battle to capture Raqqa, Islamic State's de facto Syrian capital, piling pressure on the jihadists whose self-declared caliphate is in retreat across Syria and Iraq. </s> HUKOUMIYA, Syria/BEIRUT (Reuters) – The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Tuesday it had begun a battle to capture Raqqa, Islamic State's de facto capital in Syria, launching attacks from the east, west and north of the city.

 Original Article </s> (AP) – A U.S.-backed Syrian force says it has begun an offensive to capture the northern city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State group.

 Talal Sillo, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, told reporters Tuesday that operations have begun in coordination with the U.S.-led coalition.

 SDF fighters began advancing toward Raqqa in November, capturing wide areas from the extremists. Last week, they reached the northern and eastern gates of the city.

 Raqqa is currently surrounded from the east, north and west, and opposition activists have reported intense shelling on the city since Monday night, which killed at least 12 people.

 The battle is likely to be long and bloody, and the extremists are not expected to give up easily. </s> The battle for control of the Islamic State group's de facto capital Raqqa, in northern Syria, will begin "within days," a spokeswoman for a U.S.-backed Syrian force at the city's edges said Saturday. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces are already encamped around the city's northern and eastern divisions and on Saturday made new progress against IS militants to approach the city from the south bank of the Euphrates River.

Start the conversation, or Read more at WBT-AM Charlotte. </s> A U.S.-backed Syrian force says it has begun an offensive to capture the northern city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State group.

Talal Sillo, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, told reporters Tuesday that operations have begun in co-ordination with the U.S.-led coalition.

SDF fighters began advancing toward Raqqa in November, capturing wide areas from the extremists. Last week, they reached the northern and eastern gates of the city.

Raqqa is currently surrounded from the east, north and west and opposition activists have reported intense shelling on the city since Monday night.

Syria's state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday that airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition killed 12 people, including women and children. It says the families were fleeing the city in boats across the Euphrates River ahead of an expected all-out attack by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

April 30, 2017 photo provided by the Syria Democratic Forces, shows a fighter from the SDF carrying weapons as he looks toward the northern town of Tabqa, Syria. Turkey is unhappy that the U.S. has armed Kurdish fighters with heavier weapons in the battle for Raqqa. (Syrian Democratic Forces/Associated Press)

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 21 people were killed in Monday night airstrikes. It said they were likely carried out by the U.S.-led coalition.

The airstrikes have intensified in recent weeks as SDF fighters have reached the outskirts of the city.

SDF spokesman Talal Silo said the battle for Raqqa will be "fierce because Daesh [ISIS] will die to defence their so-called capital."

Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday the Ankara will retaliate immediately if the operation by U.S.-backed forces to capture Raqqa presents a threat to Turkey.

Turkey views the Kurdish YPG militia within the Syrian Democratic Forces as a terrorist group aligned with militants who have fought an insurgency in southeast Turkey since 1984.
• Turkish official says U.S. arming of Kurds in Syria is 'unacceptable' </s> BEIRUT, June 5 (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Syrian rebels fighting Islamic State will announce the start date for the final assault on Raqqa city on Tuesday, aiming to oust the militants from their de facto capital in Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Monday.

The SDF is an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias backed by the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State. On Saturday the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, part of the SDF, told Reuters the fifth and final stage of the attack would start in the coming "few days". (Reporting by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Angus MacSwan) </s> The US-led coalition have air-dropped ground forces near the Islamic State-held town of Tabqa in northern Syria, opening a new front in the campaign to capture the jihadist group’s nearby stronghold of Raqqa city.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday the US military had airlifted allied Syrian Arab militia fighters near Tabqa, providing them fire support in a move aimed at retaking a major dam that remains in the hands of Islamic State.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a militia alliance including Arab and Kurdish fighters, said US forces had deployed with them in the air drop, saying the operation also aimed to block any advance by government forces from the west.

A local official familiar with SDF operations said the airdrop took place on Tuesday.

The SDF, which also includes the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, is fighting to encircle Raqqa city with support from the US-led coalition, including air support and backing on the ground from US special forces.

The campaign to capture Raqqa from Islamic State appears to be gathering pace as an overlapping, US-backed effort in Iraq is drawing closer to driving the jihadist group from Mosul.

Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. air assets had been used to airlift members of the Syrian Arab Coalition, part of the SDF, in a bid to retake the Tabqa Dam. He did not provide details on the size of the forces moved or what type of fire support was provided.

The SDF, in a statement circulated on an official Telegram account, said: “American forces have conducted a landing operation for US ground forces, along with (SDF) special forces”.

The landing forces had seized four small villages in the area west of Tabqa and cut a main highway that links the provinces of Raqqa, Deir al-Zor and Aleppo, it said.

The local official familiar with SDF operations told Reuters the air-drop operation aimed to secure a crossing point for forces coming in boats across the Euphrates, which began arriving at dawn on Wednesday.

The official said the air drop was “a pioneering step”.

Islamic State captured the Tabqa Dam, also known as the Euphrates Dam, and a nearby major air base at the height of its expansion in Syria and Iraq in 2014. It is located about 40 km (25 miles) to the west of Raqqa city.

The head of the YPG told Reuters last week a final assault to capture Raqqa city from IS would begin at the start of April. The Pentagon said a decision had yet to be taken.

Turkey is pressing Washington for a role in the Raqqa campaign. Ankara is concerned about the growing influence of the YPG, seeing it as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought a three-decade insurgency in Turkey.

The SDF cut the last main road out of Raqqa earlier this month, narrowing in on the city from the north, east and west.

The only way in or out of Raqqa now is over the Euphrates River that borders the city to the south.

Air strikes by the US-led coalition near Raqqa have escalated this month, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based war monitoring group said an air strike killed at 33 people near Raqqa when it hit a school sheltering displaced people on Monday.

The Observatory said it believed the strike was carried out by the US-led coalition.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday that there were no indications that a strike near Raqqa had hit civilians, but that it would carry out further investigations.

Islamic State is losing ground to three separate campaigns in northern Syria – by the SDF, by the Russian-backed Syrian army and by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels </s> Local residents have been expressing their discontent with the policy conducted in Raqqa by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the US coalition-appointed authorities. They took their protest to the streets on March 27 andThe press service of the Popular Resistance of Raqqa (PRoR) announced earlier today that it had, where he 93rd Brigade was deployed. PRoR also claimed that it will not tolerate "the occupation forces" on the Syrian territory,The Telegram channel Directorate 4, which monitors the situation in Syria and Iraq, posted an alleged video of the shelling on its YouTube channel. According to it, this was the first operation conducted by the group. The channel cites PRoR, who announcedThe first reports of PRoR appeared early in March, saying that they covertly recruit locals, who are opposed to the US appointed government's policies and the US-backed SDF. News about a full scale uprising in Raqqa appeared on March 30, allegedly due to the inability of the appointed government to deal with the humanitarian situation in the city and the forced mobilization. So far, no other information on the group's activity has been reported.Raqqa had been under Daesh* control for four years since 2013 and was considered its headquarters. The SDF and the US-led coalition launched a campaign against the terrorist group in the city on June 2017 and declared it "clear" in October.According to UN investigators, massive airstrikes conducted during this campaign resulted in numerous civilian casualties. The US coalition claims that it has found no evidence of this. Damascus considers Raqqa occupied, as the US operates on Syria's territory without its authorization or a UN mandate.Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) is a terrorist organization banned in Russia </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption Kurdish and Sunni Arab fighters launched an operation to seize Raqqa from IS last month

The US is sending 200 more military personnel to help fight the Islamic State group in its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, the US defence secretary says.

Speaking at talks on Middle East security, Ash Carter said the troops would include special forces trainers, advisers and bomb disposal teams.

They will join 300 US special forces who are already in Syria.

Last month a US-backed coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters said it had begun an operation to capture Raqqa.

The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) had been gaining ground in areas north of the so-called Islamic State's "capital" in Syria.

Speaking on Saturday at a meeting in Bahrain, Mr Carter said the 200 additional troops would "continue organising, training, equipping, and otherwise enabling capable, motivated, local forces" to take the fight to IS.

Interactive See how the area IS controls has changed since 2015 October 2016 January 2015

A US-led coalition has been fighting IS - mainly through air strikes - in Syria and in neighbouring Iraq.

But the main conflict in Syria pits the government of President Bashar al-Assad - assisted by Russian air power - against rebels backed by Turkey, Gulf states and the US.

One key battleground is Aleppo, once Syria's largest city, where pro-government forces continue their advance in eastern, rebel-held areas.

In a BBC interview broadcast on Saturday, the UN special envoy for Syria warned that a government victory in Aleppo would not end the war.

"A serious discussion about the future political set-up of Syria" is the only way to achieve peace, Staffan de Mistura told BBC Radio 4's Today.

The only way to win peace and stability in Syria, he continued, was a power-sharing agreement.

Syria's army seized 85% of the rebel-held part of the city in recent weeks.

The intensification in fighting has forced tens of thousands to seek refuge in government-controlled territory.

Russian officials say up to 10,500 left during a temporary humanitarian pause on Thursday alone.

Mr Carter added that Russia, Syria's main ally, had "only inflamed the civil war and prolonged suffering".

'Worst conflict since WWII'

Meanwhile, foreign ministers from the US and Europe, as well as officials from Arab countries are discussing the Syrian conflict in Paris.

Saturday's talks were expected to focus on ways to protect civilians, as well as the future of the rebels in eastern Aleppo.

Image copyright AFP Image caption The rebels continued to fight government forces outside Aleppo on Friday

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Many elderly and sick have been trapped for weeks because of the fighting

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is attending the talks, sought to lower expectations saying: "I know people are tired of these meetings, I'm tired of these meetings.

"But what am I supposed to do? Go home and have a nice weekend in Massachusetts, while people are dying? Sit there in Washington and do nothing?"

He described the conflict in Aleppo as the worst "since World War Two".

The UN estimates that up to 100,000 people are squeezed into an "ever-shrinking" rebel pocket in eastern Aleppo with little or no access to food or water.

Aleppo was once Syria's commercial and industrial hub before the uprising against President Assad began in 2011.

It has been divided in roughly two since mid-2012. But in the past year, Syrian troops broke the deadlock with the help of Iranian-backed militias and Russian air strikes.
The United States-backed Syrian Democratic Forces launch an operation to capture Raqqa, ISIL's de facto Syrian capital.