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WORLD NEWSSaturday 4 March 2017

Rivals in Syria race to assault
militants’ ‘capital’ city Raqqa

BASSEM MROUE Iraqi Special Forces transport civilians fleeing their homes during clashes between Iraqi security
Associated Press forces and Islamic State group on the western side of Mosul, Iraq. Thousands of civilians fled Mosul
BEIRUT (AP) — After the battlefield of Iraq’s Mosul, the overnight as Iraqi forces advanced north of a sprawling military base near the city’s airport on
next major campaign against the Islamic State group Friday.
will be to take its de facto capital, the Syrian city of
Raqqa. The Pentagon has drawn up a secret plan to (AP Photo/Mohammed Numan)
do that, likely leaning on local allies with stepped up
American support. As fighting rages on, thousands flee Iraq’s Mosul
The question is: In the tangled mess that is Syria’s con-
flict, who are those local allies? MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — Thou- displaced by the fighting, to run out.
Syrian government forces, Turkish troops and their Syr- sands of civilians fled Mosul according to the United “In total 7,000 people fled
ian militia allies, and U.S.-backed Kurdish forces all have overnight as Iraqi forces ad- Nations. through this area last night,”
their eye on Raqqa. Each vehemently rejects letting the vanced north of a sprawl- Nahla Ahmed, 50 fled Mo- he said. “We were up all
others capture the city and would likely react in anger ing military base near the sul late Thursday night, night trying to control the
should the United States support the others. And it is not city’s airport on Friday. walking more than five ki- crowds.”U.N. spokesman
clear that any has the resources to take the city on its Iraq’s special forces pushed lometers (three miles) from Stephane Dujarric said Fri-
own. into the Wadi Hajar district her home in the Shuhada day “the latest figures we
“Raqqa is more of an abstract goal: everyone wants it in western Mosul and re- neighborhood. have of people recorded
in principle, but no one is willing to commit the resources took the area from the Is- “All the families were hiding leaving western Mosul is
and bear the risks necessary,” said Faysal Itani, an ana- lamic State group Friday, behind a wall,” she said, ex- 28,400 and that’s since op-
lyst at the Washington-based Atlantic Council. according to Brig. Gen. plaining how they escaped erations in west Mosul start-
The fall of Raqqa, the Islamic State group’s de facto Yahya Rasool, spokesman an IS-held part of the city. ed on Feb. 19. However
capital and largest remaining stronghold, would be the of the Joint Military Opera- “We gave the children we’re also tracking down
biggest defeat for the militants in Syria since they cap- tions. valium so they wouldn’t reports thousands more
tured the northern city on the banks of the Euphrates Special forces Brig. Gen. cry and (the IS fighters) people are on the move.”
River in January 2014. Haider al-Obeidi said clear- wouldn’t catch us.” He said that on aver-
President Donald Trump has vowed to “obliterate” the ing operations were ongo- Ahmed, like most of the ci- age about 4,000 people
group. “We will work with our allies, including our friends ing in the area and his forc- vilians who have escaped a day have been fleeing
and allies in the Muslim world, to extinguish this vile en- es were close to linking up Mosul in the past week, fled since the beginning of the
emy from our planet,” he told Congress on Tuesday. with the militarized federal through Mamun neighbor- operation.“We think about
The top U.S. commander in the campaign against IS, Lt. police forces who were hood. The district is partially 750,000 civilians are still
Gen. Stephen Townsend, has said he believes Raqqa pushing up along the west- controlled by Iraq’s special trapped inside western Mo-
and Mosul will be taken within six months. So far, the of- ern bank of the Tigris river. forces.Maj. Saif Ali, who is sul, either sheltering from
fensive on Mosul has been underway four months, with Iraqi forces, including spe- stationed in Mamun, said the fighting or waiting to
only half the city captured from the militants in ferocious cial operations forces huge crowds of civilians flee,” Dujarric said. “We’re
street-to-street urban combat. And that is using a rela- and federal police units, began pouring into the deeply concerned with
tively intensively trained and united military, backed by launched an attack on area from neighboring dis- their well-being and safety
heavy U.S. firepower and commandos on the ground the western part of Mosul tricts just after midnight. Ali and their access to vital re-
— a contrast to the comparatively undisciplined and nearly two weeks ago to said civilians in western Mo- sources.”
fragmented forces the U.S. has to choose from as allies dislodge IS. Since the of- sul are becoming increas- By late morning nearly
in Syria. fensive began, more than ingly desperate as food all the families had been
Raqqa is a smaller city than Mosul, but the militants 28,000 people have been and water supplies begin moved out of Mamun. q
are believed to have dug in with powerful fortifications
there.
In Syria, U.S-backed predominantly Kurdish fighters
known as the Syria Democratic Forces, or SDF, remain
Trump’s best bet. Aided by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes
and some 500 U.S. special forces troops deployed in
an advisory role, the force has been marching toward
Raqqa since November. Closing in on the city from dif-
ferent directions, it is now stationed some eight kilome-
ters (five miles) north of the city.
The U.S. military recently provided a small number of ar-
mored vehicles to the U.S.-backed force to give better
protection from small arms fire and roadside bombs as
they get closer to Raqqa.
Further aid to the rag-tag group, however, raises sensi-
tive questions over how to deal with Turkey, a NATO ally
with much at stake in Syria. Turkey considers the main
Kurdish militia in Syria — known as the YPG, and an af-
filiate of the U.S.-backed SDF — a terrorist organization,
and has vowed to work with Syrian opposition fighters
known as the Free Syrian Army to liberate Raqqa. q