Assad vows to ‘liberate’ every inch of Syria

Syrian regime troops supported by Russian Federation and US-backed fighters pressed twin offensives against the Islamic State group yesterday as pressure built on the jihadists’ northern strongholds in the war-torn country.

“It seems there has been an undeclared coordination between Washington and Moscow”, he said. He also thanked China for using its veto at the U.N. Security Council months after the crisis began to prevent the imposition of sanctions on Syria as well as Russia, Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group – three key allies who have played a critical role in boosting Assad’s forces.

Manbij, in Syria’s border province of Aleppo, had a pre-war population of about 120,000 – mostly Arabs, but about a quarter Syrian Kurds.

The battle for Raqqa is expected to be long and hard, with Syrian troops still about 45 miles away.

That thrust, supported by the U.S. special forces, aims to deny Islamic State any access to the Turkish frontier, which is crucial for supplies of arms and food. The provincial capital, Raqqa, became the militant group’s first conquered city and later the seat of its self-styled caliphate.

The IS militant group has become in the eye of the tornado recently, with the Syrian army closing in from the south of al-Raqqa, while the USA -backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led rebel alliance, is advancing in the northern countryside of al-Raqqa, and closing in on the city of Manbej, another IS stronghold on the Turkish borders.

As the SDF closes in on the city, US -led coalition warplanes have continued to strike Daesh positions in the area, the sources said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss military strategy publicly.

Full control of Aleppo would be a huge prize for President Bashar al-Assad. It has proven to be the first effective fighting force allied to Washington during five years of multi-sided civil war in Syria.

“There is a joint operations room in Baghdad where the Iraqis and the Syrians are coordinating with the support of the Americans and the Russians”, a source close to the government said on Monday. It is unclear whether the twin offensives were coordinated.

“The cessation of hostilities in Syria has been respected in most of Syrian provinces”.

Washington’s support for the SDF has strained relations with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally Ankara as its largest component is the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

“It seems they (Islamic State) can’t keep several fronts open at the same time”.

A Syrian army victory at the Tabqa airbase would mark a reversal of its fortunes in Raqqa province since 2014, and deal a blow to IS’s image of invincibility that the group has tried to project through affiliated media networks.

There is, however, at least some covert coordination in a joint operations room in Baghdad where the Iraqis and Syrians are coordinating with input from Russian Federation and the US.

“Any moment that we want to enter it, we can, but because of the presence of civilians”. She added that such opacity creates outright hostility.

“The Obama administration is keen to demonstrate some form of achievement against the Islamic State before the end of the president’s term, and in a way it seems that the focus on military achievement is overshadowing what happens the day after”, Khatib of the Chatham House think tank said.

It is being fought on the ground by militias including the Kurdish YPG and allied Arab groups, which together formed an alliance a year ago known as the Syria Democratic Forces. The report said troops now control the Zakiya area, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Tabqa, which is southwest of the city of Raqqa. Very few expect any real push toward the city soon.

Meanwhile, a simultaneous government offensive is underway in western Raqqa.

For the SDF, it could make Raqqa another addition to its presumptive Kurdish state on Syrian soil.

Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi, who is commanding the operation, said ISIS fighters “were hiding in fortified tunnels and scattered houses in the district”. Please see our terms of service for more information. This includes the preparation of derivative works of, or the incorporation of such content into other works.