DAMASCUS, SYRIA (11:20 A.M.) – On Sunday, the YPG (People’s Protection Units) released a full statement covering the battle for Raqqa where heavy clashes continue day and night.

According to the YPG (main military branch of the Syrian Democratic Forces) press statement, some 65% of Raqqa’s provincial capital has been ‘liberated’ while 2,000 hostages were freed from ISIS captivity over the past month.

On the battlefield, a total of nine districts were wrestled from Islamic State combattants in the month of August alone.

In the southern suburbs, the Nazlat Shehade, Hisham Bin Abdulmelik and Old Raqqa neighborhoods have been captured. To the west, the SDF has imposed full control over the Al-Karim and Al-Diriyah districts. The largest advance was nevertheless secured on the eastern axis where the Mehdi, Al-Rafqa, Mansur and Reshid districts have been brought under Kurdish control. Overnight today, the SDF also captured the Moroor district. Effectively, Kurdish forces are now in control of 14 of out the city’s 23 suburbs.

A pincer offensive along the Euphrates River has notably had YPG assault units meet up on the southern flank, thereby pushing ISIS towards rearguard areas in the densely populated city centre.

Since the battle begin, a total of 1,244 Islamic State members have been killed if one is to believe the YPG. Just three prisoners-of-war were taken by Kurdish troops while 28 ISIS suicide bombers were neutralized in the month of August.

In comparison, the YPG admitted to only 101 deaths in its own ranks due to phase five of the Euphrates Wrath offensive. Not long ago, ISIS indicated it had killed over 1,000 YPG/SDF/PKK fighters in the three-month battle.

ALSO READ  Syrian Army kills hundreds of jihadists in southern Idlib - Russian general
Advertisements
Share this article:
  • 226
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
    226
    Shares
Chris Tomson
Student currently living in Denmark. Special focus on news from Syria, MENA map-making and strategical military analysis.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Notice: All comments represent the view of the commenter and not necessarily the views of AMN.

All comments that are not spam or wholly inappropriate are approved, we do not sort out opinions or points of view that are different from ours.

Be Civil

This is a Civilized Place for Public Discussion

Please treat this discussion with the same respect you would a public park. We, too, are a shared community resource — a place to share skills, knowledge and interests through ongoing conversation.

These are not hard and fast rules, merely guidelines to aid the human judgment of our community and keep this a clean and well-lighted place for civilized public discourse.

Make it better

Improve the Discussion

Help us make this a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.

The topics discussed here matter to us, and we want you to act as if they matter to you, too. Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said.

Now the hard part!

Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree

You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But remember to criticize ideas, not people. Please avoid:

  • Name-calling
  • Ad hominem attacks
  • Responding to a post’s tone instead of its actual content
  • Knee-jerk contradiction

Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.