US-backed Syrian fighters reached the eastern edge of the Islamic State group’s stronghold Raqa on Tuesday, a monitor said, ahead of the expected announcement of a final push for the city.
The Syrian Democratic Forces have spent months sealing off the jihadists in the city and had advanced to within a few kilometres (miles) of it to the north, east and west.
Early on Tuesday, they launched a new drive towards the city, with air support from the US-led coalition, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“They reached the eastern edge of the city but have not entered yet. They also broke through IS’s first line of defence on the northern outskirts of Raqa,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
“The coalition was carrying out air strikes all night in preparation for the push,” he said.
Clashes between SDF fighters and IS militants were still raging late on Tuesday morning, he said.
On Saturday, the spokeswoman for the SDF’s Raqa operation — dubbed Wrath of the Euphrates — said the final assault on the city would begin “in a few days.”
As the SDF has drawn closer to the city, reports of civilian casualties in coalition air strikes have swelled.
On Monday, the Observatory said a coalition bombing raid killed 21 civilians as they tried to escape Raqa by dinghy on the Euphrates River.
The same route had been used by IS fighters, Abdel Rahman said.
More than 320,000 people have been killed and millions more have fled their homes since the civil war erupted in Syria in March 2011.
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