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[Captain Smoker]

After Mosul (de facto capital in Iraq) is almost recaptured, the next largest city is Raqqa, which is the capital of ISIS in Syria:

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Tuesday it had launched a battle to capture Raqqa, Islamic State's de facto Syrian capital, piling pressure on the jihadists whose self-declared caliphate is in retreat across Syria and Iraq.

(...)

The assault overlaps with the final stages of the U.S.-backed attack to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State. It follows months of advances to the north, east and west of Raqqa by the SDF, which includes Arab and Kurdish militias.

Islamic State captured Raqqa from rebel groups in 2014 and has used it as an operations base to plan attacks in the West. Silo said the assault had begun from the north, east and west of the city, which is bordered to the south by the River Euphrates.

(...)

source + more information: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-raqqa-idUSKBN18X0LH?il=0



SDF attacks ISIS from three sides

Overview of the situation: http://isis.liveuamap.com/