Islamic State cleared from Raqqa

US-backed militias have taken Syria’s Raqqa from Islamic State, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.The fall of Raqqa city, where Islamic State staged euphoric parades after its string of lightning victories in 2014, is a potent symbol of the jihadist movement’s collapsing fortunes. From the city, the group planned attacks abroad.The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias backed by a US-led international alliance, has been fighting Islamic State inside Raqqa since June.A Reuters witness said fighting appeared to be almost at an end with only sporadic bursts of gunfire. Militia fighters celebrated in the streets, chanted slogans from their vehicles and raised a flag inside Raqqa stadium.An SDF spokesman said the alliance would capture the last Islamic State areas in the city within hours. The stadium and a hospital, captured by the SDF on Tuesday, were the jihadists’ last bases.A local field commander said no Islamic State fighters remained even in the stadium and the hospital, two central city points where Islamic State had been best entrenched and were the SDF said fighting on Monday night and early Tuesday was focused.In a sign that the four-month battle for Raqqa was in its last stages, Dillon said there had been no coalition air strikes there on Monday.

Source: Islamic State cleared from Raqqa