Raqqa battle has began!

Raqqa being the largest city in eastern Syria has since 2014 served as Islamic State's capital in Syria. They go after Raqqa to establish a major foothold in Syria and also push Islamic State guys out of Raqqa to eastern Homs and Deir es Zor to cause trouble for the bad Russians. With US special forces in action, Raqqa should be taken with a couple of months the way Mosul city outside the old city was considering there is no old city in Raqqa.

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a reply to: allsee4eye

That's a beautiful press release. An A+ in public relations.

originally posted by: allsee4eye
Raqqa being the largest city in eastern Syria has since 2014 served as Islamic State's capital in Syria. They go after Raqqa to establish a major foothold in Syria and also push Islamic State guys out of Raqqa to eastern Homs and Deir es Zor to cause trouble for the bad Russians. With US special forces in action, Raqqa should be taken with a couple of months the way Mosul city outside the old city was considering there is no old city in Raqqa.

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Reminder: The U.S. is an illegal force in Syria, the Russians are there at the request of the Syrian government

Reminder: ISIS is in Raqqa. The Russians are fighting ISIS. The US is fighting ISIS too.

I can't say that I wrote this to provide clarity. There isn't much that is very clear over there. So many factions.

a reply to: butcherguy

The US is after Raqqa. Russia is after Deir es Zor. They are not after the same thing.

originally posted by: allsee4eye
a reply to: butcherguy

The US is after Raqqa. Russia is after Deir es Zor. They are not after the same thing.

Correct.
Then there are the Kurds, the Turks and others.
The place is a mess.

originally posted by: allsee4eye
a reply to: butcherguy

The US is after Raqqa. Russia is after Deir es Zor. They are not after the same thing.

...and the thing about Deir es Zor is its where ISIS is ultimately moving to when beaten in smaller cities

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In a move that may affect the protracted Raqqa offensive, Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists have “essentially moved” their so-called capital in Syria to the eastern province of Deir ez-Zor, Fox News reported, citing unnamed US defense officials.
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Islamic State, Syria unrest
The jihadists and their military command are now centered some 140 kilometers southeast of the city of Raqqa, the US media report claimed.

which is exactly where the US conducted its large Air Raid, accidentally!

en.wikipedia.org...

The Deir ez-Zor airport air raid was a series of 37 U.S.-led Coalition airstrikes near the Deir ez-Zor Airport in eastern Syria on 17 September 2016, lasting from 3:55 to 4:56 p.m. Damascus time,[4] that killed between 90 and 106 Syrian Army soldiers and wounded 110 more.

I wonder why the US wants to get involved in that city?!?

ISIS is crumbling. Currently, the Syrian gov't is making a push towards Deir es Zor from Palmyra. I wish them well.

My only problem is, the USAF is killing a lot of civilians in their air strikes, and the statements they've made basically amount to, "Well, # happens in war," so it's hard to avoid the conclusion that they don't really care about civilian casualties.

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan
right, but they wanted to plaster Aleppo as a massacre last year all over the news. One civilian casualty by Russian strikes is genocide, hundreds by the NATO* coalition equals "cost of war" . Either way, I will continue to update my thread on Raqqa of these events OP, and link this event to yours for now.

*(refers to the 27 out of 28 NATO members participating, and not necessarily under an official mandate)

A-10 at Incirlik AB providing close air support.

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Reports of first buildings captured. Let's see if they can get the ball rolling.

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Reports they took the first district.

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SDF also entered Raqqa city from the west side

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white phosphorous being used

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originally posted by: allsee4eye
white phosphorous being used

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I heard that report as well. It's being used by the United States.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but don't most countries consider this inhumane, on the same level as using napalm?

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

It's supposed to be illegal to use on personnel. That's why the US banned filming in Mosul and Raqqa. The footage is shot by civilians in Raqqa.

a reply to: allsee4eye

they are not using it as a weapon. Willy Pete is for laying down smoke to give advancing troops some cover. This especially makes sense because it is night time and some of those front line forces likely have NVG's or thermal's to see through the smoke.

WP is not even effectively target-able as a weapon on people unless there was just this large crowd of people out there to drop it on, which clearly is not the case.

If you see WP, it usually means forces are pushing forward and advancing into an area. Thats all their really is to it.
Here is a really nice night photo taken with a better camera.

update on the progress

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more use of white phosphorous

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a reply to: worldstarcountry

Doesn't seem like it. It seems to cause quite a lot of civilian casualties in Raqqa. The media is hush hush about it.