The United States-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) says it has launched a battle to capture Raqqa, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria's (ISIS) de facto Syrian capital, piling pressure on the militants whose self-declared caliphate is in retreat across Syria and Iraq. Last week, they reached the northern and eastern gates of the city after intense clashes under the cover of USA -led airstrikes.
The same route leading out of the city's southern districts has been used by IS fighters, it said.
The US said on Tuesday it had started distributing arms to the YPG to help take Raqqa, part of a plan that has angered NATO-ally Turkey, which is anxious by growing Kurdish influence in northern Syria.
The U.S. -led coalition supports the SDF by providing equipment, training, intelligence and logistics support, airstrikes and battlefield advice. "During the liberation campaign of the city of Manbij, the fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces provided us with great support until we were able to liberate our city from ISIS", the Manbij Military Council said in a statement.
SDF spokesman Talal Silo yesterday said the operation started on Monday and that the fighting would be "fierce because Daesh will die to defend their so-called capital".
As the frontlines draw near to and enter the city, which is ringed by landmines to keep outsiders out and insiders in, civilians will inevitably find themselves under fire.
"The coalition was carrying out air strikes all night in preparation for the push", he said.
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Their US allies led the latest assault on Islamic State's bastion, launching airstrikes that have called 21 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It said SDF fighters captured several buildings in Mashlab.
"After we have completed the stages of encircling of Raqqa from three sides - north, east and west - today we are facing a historic moment that the whole world and all peace-loving people have waited for, which is to declare the beginning of (the) campaign to liberate the city of Raqqa and destroy the so-called capital of ISIS", an SDF spokesperson said.
Families have been fleeing the city in boats across the Euphrates River ahead of an expected all-out attack by the SDF.
State news agency SANA claimed women and children trying to escape the city were among the dead. The Russian propaganda outlet Sputnik has already begun accusing the coalition of civilian deaths, downplaying the civilian chemical weapons massacres committed by the forces of Russian ally Assad.
"Both the SDF and Coalition have a history of downplaying civilian casualties", the monitor tweeted on Tuesday. The current offensive is expected to be long and bloody and could be a major turning point in the war against Daesh. It said they were likely carried out by the coalition.
Just last week, SDF forces received the first shipments of USA small arms, ammunition and vehicles to be used for an offensive on Raqqa, a move that has been opposed by Turkey, which sees the Kurdish group as an extension of a Turkish terrorist group known as the PKK.
His soldiers on Tuesday were around 70 kilometres (40 miles) from Raqa city, into which the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces thrusted earlier in the day.
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