In this image made from security video released by Manila Police and Resorts World Manila shows a gunman walks up a flight of stairs in the entertainment and gambling complex. (AP)SYRIAAssault nears Islamic State’s capital of RaqqaA U.S.-backed operation by Syrian forces to capture the Islamic State’s Syrian “capital” of Raqqa will start in the next few days, the spokesman for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said Saturday. An assault on Raqqa would pile more pressure on the Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate, with the group facing defeat in the Iraqi city of Mosul and being forced into retreat across much of Syria. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the rampage at the Resorts World Manila complex in which at least 37 patrons and employees died in fires set by the gunman. He said the outbreak might “spread beyond Yemen” and should perturb all states neighboring Yemen, where civil war is now in its third year.

Source: Washington Post June 03, 2017 22:30 UTC