A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Islamic State was now completely cleared from the city. The fall of Raqqa city, where Islamic State staged euphoric parades after its string of lightning victories in 2014, is a potent symbol of the jihadist movement’s collapsing fortunes. The SDF, backed by a US-led international alliance, has been fighting Islamic State inside Raqqa since June. Another Reuters witness said militia fighters celebrated in the streets, chanting slogans from their vehicles. A group of militia fighters and commanders clasped their arms round each other, smiling, in a battle-scarred landscape of rubble and ruined buildings at a public square.

Source: bd News24 October 17, 2017 10:30 UTC