page_title: Battle of Raqqa (2017)
section_title: SDF advance into the Old City
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Raqqa (2017) / Timeline of the battle / SDF advance into the Old City
caption_attribution_description: English: YJÊ fighters in Raqqa.
context_page_description: The Battle of Raqqa (2017) was the fifth and final phase of the Raqqa campaign launched by the Syrian Democratic Forces against the Islamic State with an aim to seize the city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of ISIL since 2014. The battle began on 6 June 2017, and was supported by airstrikes and ground troops from the US-led coalition. The operation was named the "Great Battle" by the SDF. It concluded on 17 October 2017, with the SDF fully capturing the city of Raqqa.
  The battle ran concurrently with the lifting of the Siege of Deir ez-Zor as well as the Battle of Mosul, which started seven months earlier, as part of an effort by the CJTF–OIR and its allies to strip ISIL of its regional centers of power and to dismantle it as a state.
context_section_description: During 1–2 July, SDF fighters cleared the al-Hal market in eastern Raqqa of ISIL militants, while the SDF continued to advance in other neighborhoods of the city with the help of heavy CJTF–OIR airstrikes. Ratla, a village southeast of the city also fell to the SDF. The SDF entered the Hashim Bin al-Melek neighborhood in southern Raqqa and the al-Yarmouk neighborhood in the west on 3 July. In the night of 3–4 July, a CJTF–OIR precision airstrike destroyed a 25-meter long section of the medieval wall surrounding Raqqa's old city. This was done so that the SDF could finally enter the heavily fortified Old City, while at the same time preserving most of the wall. The SDF advanced into the Old City, capturing the Palace of the Maidens, albeit encountering heavy resistance. Meanwhile, the US-backed forces continued to make progress in other parts of Raqqa, reportedly capturing half of the Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik neighborhood, while a major assault by the Elite Forces managed to retake the al-Sinaa neighborhood from ISIL. Some less disciplined Elite Forces units, however, were demoralized by the heavy fighting and retreated from the city, against the orders of the SDF command, and their own superiors and comrades. Nevertheless, the other Elite Forces units remained at the frontlines.
  Heavy fighting in the Old City continued through the next two days, and the SDF advances were slow despite heavy airstrikes in their support. Intense ISIL counter-attacks inside Raqqa and south of the city at Ratla were mostly repelled, though ISIS militants managed to retake a part of the al-Hal market. Especially intense clashes also took place in the western city, mostly for the al-Bareed neighborhood, as both sides launched repeated attacks in attempts to gain territory. By 6 July, pro-SDF media stated that the Coalition forces were making progress in the west and that the ISIL defenses there showed signs of breaking. The international coalition also sent further weapons, supplies, and reinforcements to Raqqa. Meanwhile, ISIL put up a bounty of approximately US$4,000 for every US soldier or foreign SDF fighter killed. Over the next days, the fierce fighting in Raqqa continued, with the SDF capturing the Harun al-Rashid Castle in the Old City, and the al-Mazarie Square in the west. By 10 July, the battle in Raqqa was described as increasingly "desperate house-to-house fight" without frontlines, as ISIL fighters holed up in small pockets of resistance that proved to be only extremely difficult to clear out for the often not adequately armed SDF fighters. ISIL suicide attacks also hampered the advance of the Coalition forces.
  The SDF progress was also reportedly hindered by disputes within the SDF and the distrust of the locals toward the anti-ISIL Coalition. Due to ISIL propaganda and long-standing distrust between the ethnic groups in Syria, many of Raqqa's Arabs are wary of the Kurdish forces within the SDF. On 8 July, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the Arab Elite Forces had withdrawn from Raqqa as result of disputes within the SDF, and their sometimes inferior battlefield performance; the SDF, however, denied this statement as baseless rumors and said that the Elite Forces were still involved in the operation. One Elite Forces' commander, Abu Saleh, later confirmed that at least the unit of around 1,000 fighters that he led had withdrawn from Raqqa; nevertheless, there were still reports that at least some of the Elite Forces still continued to be active in Raqqa. The reports of the Elite Forces' reported retreat furthered the distrust of the local population toward the SDF. There were also statements that members of the Manbij Military Council were looting houses in the city. Whereas progress in Raqqa city during this time proved slow, the SDF made some progress south of the Euphrates on 10 and 11 July, capturing two villages, including al-Ukeirshi, which had served as major military base for ISIL.
  Over the next four days, the SDF made some major advances, securing the al-Batani, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, al-Bare
caption: Female Yazidi fighters of the YJÊ also participated in the battle for Raqqa. Yazidis were massacred or enslaved by ISIL, and the YJÊ aimed to liberate Yazidi slaves who still lived in the city, while taking revenge on ISIL.[124]
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