US-led coalition confirms Syria's Raqqa completely liberated - Stunning drone footage shows Raqqa completely leveled

Sputnik
Fri, 20 Oct 2017 19:29 UTC

© Sputnik/ Hikmet Durgun

Raqqa

Power in the Syrian city of Raqqa will be passed to the local population, according to the statement of the US-backed coalition.

Earlier in the day the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by the US-led coalition, announced the complete liberation of the city of Raqqa from Daesh terrorist organization militants.

"The SDF is proud to announce from the center of the city of Raqqa the victory of our forces in the great battle in which IS [Daesh] terrorists lost. Their forces were defeated in the center of the pseudo-caliphate. The city... has been liberated," the Arab-Kurdish detachments said in a press release.

According to the press release, 655 members of the detachments had been killed during the fight for the city.

The US-led coalition in a Friday statement confirmed that Raqqa had been freed from Daesh and congratulated its Syrian Democratic Forces partners on their announcement of the victory over terrorist group.

"Daesh's loss of Mosul and now Raqqah are turning points for the terrorist organization whose leaders grow ever more distant from a dwindling number of terrorist adherents," the statement said.

The city of Raqqa has been the capital of the self-proclaimed Daesh "caliphate" in Syria for some time. Once the coalition forces regained full control of Daesh stronghold, the terrorist group were left with nowhere to go.

Comment: Raqqa has been fully liberated, into the hands of the US backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

US backed SDF militias said on Friday that Raqqa will be part of a decentralized federal Syria now that the city has been freed from US-Saudi backed Islamic State.

This ties Raqqa to Kurdish plans to set up autonomous regions in the north of Syria. We are certain that Turkey will not be too pleased with this latest statement from the SDF.