page_title: Raqqa
section_title: Control by the Islamic State (January 2014–October 2017)
hierarchical_section_title: Raqqa / History / Syrian Civil War and ISIL / Control by the Islamic State (January 2014–October 2017)
caption_attribution_description: English: A destroyed part of Raqqa.
context_page_description: Raqqa, also called Raqa, Rakka and ar-Raqqah, is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about 160 kilometres east of Aleppo. It is located 40 kilometres east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and bishopric Callinicum was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate between 796 and 809, under the reign of Harun al-Rashid. It was also the capital of the Islamic State from 2014 to 2017. With a population of 220,488 based on the 2004 official census, Raqqa is the sixth largest city in Syria.
  During the Syrian Civil War, the city was captured in 2013 by the Syrian opposition and then by the Islamic State. ISIL made the city its capital in 2014. As a result, the city was hit by airstrikes from the Syrian government, Russia, the United States, and several other countries. Most non-Sunni religious structures in the city were destroyed by ISIL, most notably the Shia Uwais al-Qarni Mosque, while others were converted into Sunni mosques. On 17 October 2017, following a lengthy battle that saw massive destruction to the city, the Syrian Democratic Forces declared the liberation of Raqqa from the Islamic State to be complete.
context_section_description: ISIL took complete control of Raqqa by 13 January 2014. ISIL proceeded to execute Alawites and suspected supporters of Bashar al-Assad in the city and destroyed the city's Shia mosques and Christian churches such as the Armenian Catholic Church of the Martyrs, which was then converted into an ISIL police headquarters and an Islamic centre, tasked to recruit new fighters. The Christian population of Raqqa, which had been estimated to be as much as 10% of the total population before the civil war began, largely fled the city.
  On 15 November 2015, France, in response to attacks in Paris two days earlier, dropped about 20 bombs on multiple ISIL targets in Raqqa.
  Pro-government sources said that an anti-IS uprising took place between 5 and 7 March 2016.
  On 26 October 2016, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said that an offensive to take Raqqa from IS would begin within weeks.
  The SDF, supported by the US, launched the Second Battle of Raqqa on 6 June 2017 and declared victory in the city on 17 October 2017. Bombardment by the US-led coalition led to destruction of most of the city, including civilian infrastructure. Some 270,000 people were said to have fled Raqqa with no homes to which to return.
caption: Destroyed neighborhood in Raqqa in August 2017
exif: {}