BICOM

Kurdish and Arab soldiers have captured al-Raqqa from Islamic State, liberating what had been the group’s de facto capital and headquarters in Syria.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights yesterday confirmed that all ISIS forces have been cleared from the city, after Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by the US-led air coalition, overran the remaining ISIS fighters in al-Raqqa’s sports stadium. The end of the four-month siege of the city means that ISIS has now lost all its power centres in Iraq and Syria.

SDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Talal Silo told the Telegraph that “the SDF is now in control of the former capital of terrorism,” adding that “a formal declaration will be made from the city soon, after the clearing operations end”.

Coalition spokesperson Colonel Ryan Dillon said that “there are still IEDs and booby traps in and amongst the areas that ISIS once held, so the SDF will continue to clear deliberately through areas. We expect our Syrian Democratic Force partners to hit pockets of resistance as the final parts of the city [are] cleared”.

The SDF reportedly raised the red and yellow flag of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) forces and tore down the black flag of ISIS, after the former ISIS headquarters in the National Hospital and former execution site were captured in the final hours of fighting.

The Save the Children charity has said that 270,000 people are in critical need of aid after fleeing the city.

BICOM has published a series of articles called ‘After ISIS’ by experts on Islamic State. Articles argue that many ISIS fighters will regroup in Afghanistan, the loss of territory will unburden ISIS from the responsibility of managing infrastructure and allow it to focus on carrying out terror attacks, and more people than ever before are prepared to carry out the low-tech, high profile attacks that are the terror group’s hallmark.