Kurdish and Arab forces battle with ISIS near Raqqa

There is no sight of an end to the war against ISIS in Iraq and, Kurdish and Arab forces have begun a new assault near Raqqa which is the group's de-facto capital in Syria. This assault is against the backdrop of offensive of Iraqi troops against the jihadists in the city of Fallujah for a second day.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 24 May 2016.

These are believed to be the most serious ground operations against IS since the militants declared their self-styled 'caliphate' covering large areas of Syria and Iraq in 2014. The purpose of the assault in Raqqa province by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) was to dislodge IS from the northern part and, simultaneously, secure other areas.
The SDF is having the backing of the US - it is a seven-month-old alliance of Syrian militias, including the Kurdish YPG and with the help of American-led coalition airstrikes, the YPG has successfully driven the jihadist organisation from large areas of northern Syria in the last year. However, the activists claim that in Raqqa, IS fighters make use of civilians as shields in Raqqa and, therefore, will be found in the same building. It seems inside a civilian building, there will be groups of ISIS fighters.
Moreover, they also use schools as places to stay. The reason is that schools have basements which protects them from the air strikes.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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