(Zaman Al Wasl)- Isis on Tuesday launched attack on the Iran-backed Shiite militia at the border with Iraq northeastern Syria as new wave of displaced people crossed into the Kurdish-led areas, local activist said.
The fierce clashes near Tel Sufouk bordr crossing between ISIS and the Popular Mobilization militants left dozens killed and wounded from both side, Malaz Yousef, Hasaka-based activist said.
Three civilians were killed in the artillery shelling of the Irqi militiamen on villages of Thiba and al Thwaiba east of Hasaka province.
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces edged into the final redoubts of the two capitals of Islamic State's self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria on Tuesday, hampered by fierce resistance from the militants and the presence of human shields.
Iraqi commanders have predicted final victory in Mosul this week after a grinding eight-month assault on the once two-million-strong city pushed Islamic State into a rectangle no more than 300 by 500 meters beside the Tigris river.
In Raqqa, Islamic State's headquarters in northern Syria from where it plotted attacks around the world, U.S.-backed militia were fighting inside the historic Old City after coalition air strikes breached its walls in two places.
The U.S.-led international coalition supporting the Iraqi military and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighting Islamic State in Raqqa said it had been forced to bomb the Old City's ancient wall because the militants were controlling the existing breaches.
"SDF fighters would have been channeled through these locations and were extremely vulnerable as they were targeted with vehicle-borne IEDs (car bombs) and indirect fire as well as direct fire from heavy machineguns, rocket-propelled grenades and snipers as they tried to breach the Old City," it said.
The assault on Raqqa, which began last month, was going to plan, though Islamic State's use of motion sensor-triggered mines and drones that drop bombs had slowed down operations a little, an SDF spokesperson said by telephone.
SDF fighters had seized an ancient palace, Qasr al-Banat, in the eastern part of the Old City, an SDF statement said. (With Reuters)
The fierce clashes near Tel Sufouk bordr crossing between ISIS and the Popular Mobilization militants left dozens killed and wounded from both side, Malaz Yousef, Hasaka-based activist said.
Three civilians were killed in the artillery shelling of the Irqi militiamen on villages of Thiba and al Thwaiba east of Hasaka province.
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces edged into the final redoubts of the two capitals of Islamic State's self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria on Tuesday, hampered by fierce resistance from the militants and the presence of human shields.
Iraqi commanders have predicted final victory in Mosul this week after a grinding eight-month assault on the once two-million-strong city pushed Islamic State into a rectangle no more than 300 by 500 meters beside the Tigris river.
In Raqqa, Islamic State's headquarters in northern Syria from where it plotted attacks around the world, U.S.-backed militia were fighting inside the historic Old City after coalition air strikes breached its walls in two places.
The U.S.-led international coalition supporting the Iraqi military and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighting Islamic State in Raqqa said it had been forced to bomb the Old City's ancient wall because the militants were controlling the existing breaches.
"SDF fighters would have been channeled through these locations and were extremely vulnerable as they were targeted with vehicle-borne IEDs (car bombs) and indirect fire as well as direct fire from heavy machineguns, rocket-propelled grenades and snipers as they tried to breach the Old City," it said.
The assault on Raqqa, which began last month, was going to plan, though Islamic State's use of motion sensor-triggered mines and drones that drop bombs had slowed down operations a little, an SDF spokesperson said by telephone.
SDF fighters had seized an ancient palace, Qasr al-Banat, in the eastern part of the Old City, an SDF statement said. (With Reuters)
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