AIN ISSA (SYRIA) - A US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters said Sunday it had began a long-awaited operation to capture the Islamic State group's de facto Syrian capital Raqa. The operation, dubbed "The Wrath of the Euphrates," comes as Iraqi forces backed by the US-led coalition press an assault to take the jihadist group's Iraqi stronghold of Mosul. Ahmed said the operation planned to free Raqa from "the forces of global, obscurantist terrorism represented by IS that took (the town) for their presumed capital." He said the SDF had received new weapons from the US-led coalition for the battle, including anti-tank missiles. "The fight will not be easy, and will require accurate and careful operations because IS will defend its bastion knowing that the loss of Raqa will mean it is finished in Syria," he said.

Source: Bangkok Post November 06, 2016 11:15 UTC