The road to the Tabqa dam in northern Syria is strewn with evidence of the clashes being waged by a US-backed alliance of fighters against the Islamic State group. Bits of burned vehicles and the casings of ammunition litter the roadside leading into the dam complex, which the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) entered Friday. Two … Read more
US-backed Syrian fighters on Monday paused their offensive for a key dam held by the Islamic State group to allow a technical team to enter the complex, a spokeswoman said. There have been fears about the integrity of the dam after fighting in the area forced it out of service on Sunday, following earlier UN … Read more
US-backed forces battled the Islamic State group around a key Syrian town Monday, hours after the capture of an airbase brought them closer to besieging the jihadists in their stronghold Raqa. Backed by air power from the US-led coalition that has been bombing IS since 2014, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are laying the groundwork … Read more
US-backed forces battled Islamic State group fighters around a key northern Syrian town on Monday, a monitor said, hours after seizing a military airport from the jihadists. The capture of Tabqa airbase late Sunday comes as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) prepare an attack on IS’s de facto Syrian capital Raqa, seeking to surround the … Read more
A US-backed force of Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters say they have taken full control of a key airbase held by the Islamic State group (IS) near Raqqa. Its capture is seen as a significant step in the fight to drive the jihadists out of the city, which has become their de facto capital. Talal … Read more
US-backed Syrian rebels say they have taken full control of a key airbase held by the Islamic State group near its stronghold, Raqqa. Talal Sello, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said they had seized Tabqa airport from militants. It comes as the Kurdish-led fighters advance on Raqqa, IS’s self-declared capital. Earlier IS … Read more
United States-backed local forces gained important ground Sunday in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria. Forces on the ground said they have taken full control of a former Syrian army airport near the city of Tabqa along the Euphrates River. The capture of Tabqa airbase comes as the alliance prepares an attack on … Read more
Fighting at a dam held by the Islamic State jihadist group in northern Syria put it out of service Sunday, risking dangerous rising water levels, a technical source told AFP. A Kurdish-Arab alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is battling to take Tabqa dam and nearby Tabqa town from IS before advancing on … Read more
Iraqi forces said Monday they had taken more territory from the Islamic State group as they press an offensive that has seen them recapture a third of west Mosul and trap jihadists inside. A renewed push launched on March 5 has forced IS out of several neighbourhoods and key sites, including the main local government … Read more
An Iraqi Army helicopter fires a missile at ISIS positions as government forces seeking to retake Mosul said they had cut the last road out of the city, trapping hundreds of jihadists inside. The Baghdad regime recaptured east Mosul earlier this year and are now battling to retake the western side of the Euphrates river … Read more
Islamic State group chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is reported to have abandoned Mosul, leaving local commanders behind to lead the battle against Iraqi forces advancing in the city. With Iraqi troops making steady progress in their assault to retake Mosul from the jihadists, a US defence official said Baghdadi had fled to avoid being trapped … Read more
The Islamic State group has lost most of the land it once held in Iraq and Syria but hopes to cling to scraps of a self-declared caliphate, a US official said Wednesday. Since summer 2014, when IS was at its peak just ahead of the US-led war on the group, the jihadists have lost 65 … Read more
Syrian farmers near the Euphrates river are terrified the Islamic State group will literally open the floodgates to defend its stronghold Raqa, drowning their tiny villages in the process. Water levels of the Euphrates, which snakes down through northern Syria and east into Iraq, have shot up over the past month near the jihadist group’s … Read more
Leaders of the Islamic State group are leaving their Syrian stronghold of Raqa, fleeing in the face of the Arab-Kurd offensive backed by the international coalition, the US Defense Department said Friday. “We are starting to see now that a lot of senior ISIS leaders, a lot of their bureaucrats… are beginning the process of … Read more
IS has lost much territory since its gains in 2014 sent shockwaves around the world At least 50,000 militants from so-called Islamic State have been killed since the US-led coalition started fighting in Iraq and Syria two years ago, a US military official has said. The senior official described the figure as a “conservative estimate”. … Read more