U.S.-backed forces breach ISIS defenses in Syrian city of Raqqa

A U.S.-backed Syrian rebel alliance has breached the wall surrounding Raqqa’s old city – a major milestone that leaves ISIS on the brink of losing both its capitals.

The U.S. Central Command said Tuesday that fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were able to advance into the most heavily fortified part of Raqqa after coalition jets struck two small parts of the Rafiqah wall encircling the old city. It said the routes created by the airstrikes allowed SDF fighters to bypass booby traps and car bombs that ISIS had prepared in breaks in the wall, although the jihadi group still put up heavy resistance as the fighters entered their final redoubt.

Brett McGurk, U.S. envoy for the anti-ISIS coalition, described the assault as a “key milestone” in the battle to liberate Raqqa, which has been occupied by ISIS for three years.

The Kurdish-led SDF, backed with U.S. airpower, has been closing in on the city since November – securing the surrounding countryside, and launching a multipronged offensive in June. Last week, SDF leaders announced their forces had ISIS completely encircled in Raqqa, and on Sunday its fighters entered the city from the south for the first time – crossing the Euphrates River.

Raqqa has been the scene of many of ISIS’ worst atrocities, and the base from which it is believed to have plotted attacks in Europe – although many of the group’s key figures are thought to have fled the city in advance of the assault for Deir Ezzor province in the east, where the group still holds territory. Monitoring groups say more than 200 civilians have been killed in Raqqa during the monthlong assault on the city where, according to estimates, 2,500 ISIS fighters are holed up among about 100,000 civilians.

The push in Raqqa has come as ISIS faces defeat in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the other major city under its control. Having liberated the eastern part of Mosul in January, Iraq is now preparing to celebrate victory over the terror group in the old city in the west, although the few hundred militants estimated to be holed up in the last stronghold there are putting up a fierce fight.

The loss of these two cities spells the end of ISIS’ claim to run a functioning “caliphate” – a development that many hope will blunt its attractiveness to potential recruits. But few believe the loss of territory marks the end for the Sunni terror group, which is expected to continue to pose an insurgent threat in the region, and has already been demonstrating a renewed focus on global expansion, with ISIS-aligned militants seizing the city of Marawi in the Philippines back in May.