On the morning of October 17, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Army (SDF) announced the recovery of stadiums and hospitals in Raqqa, the "capital" of the Islamic State (ISIS). This is ISIS's last stronghold in downtown Raqqa.
According to the Guardian, Talal Selo, spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Army, announced in a statement on Tuesday that "the military operation in Raqqa is over", but soldiers continue to clear mines in the city, search for ISIS lurkers, and "we will officially announce the liberation of Raqqa as soon as possible".
In 2014, isis occupied Raqqa; in June of that year, ISIS leader Baghdadi announced the creation of the Islamic State, designating the city of Raqqa as the "capital." Raqqa has since become the command center of ISIS; in addition to its operations in the Middle East, isis commanders have orchestrated terrorist attacks overseas. As a symbol of ISIS, Raqqa has also attracted a large number of foreign ISIS supporters to Syria.
Since last November, the Syrian Democratic Army, composed of Kurds and Arabs, has launched the Raqqa Reconquest war with the support of the US military, and in June this year, the Syrian Democratic Army arrived on the outskirts of Raqqa and launched a siege war against Raqqa.
Last weekend, 275 of the last ISIS soldiers and their families stationed in Raqqa surrendered; most of those who did not surrender were foreign soldiers. On Monday, the Syrian Democratic Forces recaptured the city center "Paradise Square" that WASIS used for beheadings and executions.
On Tuesday, after the Syrian Democratic Army announced an end to its military operations in Raqqa, a spokesman for the U.S. Pentagon confirmed that the Syrian Democratic Army controlled the last ISIS stronghold, but warned that about 100 ISIS soldiers remained in the city.
After years of war, the city of Raqqa, which had a population of 300,000 and was considered a tourist destination, is now in ruins.
According to Al Jazeera, more than 3,000 bombs have landed in Raqqa since January. At least 3,250 people, including 1,130 civilians, have been killed in the fighting over the past five months, according to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
In addition to the large number of civilian casualties caused by the airstrikes by U.S. military bodies, isis used civilians as human shields during the Raqqa campaign and shot at civilians who tried to flee.
The United Nations noted last week that about 8,000 more people were trapped in the city of Raqqa, and 270,000 civilians have been displaced since April. Over the weekend, some 3,000 civilians were successfully evacuated from Raqqa.
Umm abdullah, a 44-year-old Raqqa who fled to nearby Kobani after ISIS occupied Raqqa, is delighted that Raqqa's reconquest is imminent.
"I can't describe how happy I was, my sister cried when she told me that Raqqa was liberated, and I cried too. Thanks Allah. ”
While the fighting in Raqqa is coming to an end, the city's future remains uncertain; isis will not stop attacking because of the loss of Raqqa.
The Syrian Democratic Army has said that after the raqqa battle, the group will give jurisdiction to a citizens' committee set up by its political allies. But Al Jazeera noted that at least two committees have expressed interest in Raqqa.
One is the Raqqa Civilian Council, set up in April, which is backed by the Syrian Democratic Army, and the other, the Raqqa Provincial Council, backed by the Syrian opposition in Turkey. However, the two committees are in opposition to each other.
The Syrian Democratic Army, which supports the Raqqa Civilian Council, is mainly composed of the Kurdish armed People's Protection Unit (YPG). The political organization of the PEOPLE's Protection Forces is the Democratic Union Party (PYD), while Turkey sees the PKK as an offshoot of the PKK. Turkey has designated the PKK as a terrorist organization.
Before the Battle of Raqqa, Turkey had a dispute with the United States over popular protection forces. The Syrian Democratic Army was the most powerful ally of the United States in the fight against ISIS in Syria, but at that time Turkey insisted that the United States prohibit the People's Protection Forces from joining the Raqqa Reconquest, and at one point proposed that the Turkish army participate in the reconquest of Raqqa.
Since the beginning of the Raqqa campaign, the Syrian opposition to the Raqqa Provincial Council, the Syrian National Coalition, has accused the Popular Protection Forces of "ethnic cleansing" of arabs, which the Popular Protection Forces have denied.
In September, the United States tried to reconcile the Raqqa Civilian Council and the Raqqa Provincial Commission and establish a joint commission. But the Raqqa Provincial Committee refused to participate in the multi-party talks in Rome, and the reconciliation failed.
In addition to the two opposing commissions, the attitude of the Syrian government is also unknown. With the support of Russia and Iran, Syrian government forces have retaken several towns around Raqqa and are now launching an offensive against Deir Ezzor, the last stronghold of ISIS.
Noah Bonsey, a senior researcher at the International Crisis Group, pointed out that according to the Syrian government's previous practice, it is unlikely that government forces will enter Raqqa. Bossay believes that the Syrian government's measures against Raqqa may be the same as other "Syrian Democratic Army" control areas – providing local public services or state civil servants with funds and salaries in exchange for influence in the region.
Previously, the Raqqa Civilian Council had agreed to use textbooks prepared by the Syrian government in raqqa's schools.
Bossay also pointed out that Raqqa province is home to many Arab tribes, which are powerful, and that in the Syrian civil war, the parties have tried to win the support of the tribes. Even on the issue of ISIS, it is reported that abu loqman, one of the Syrian leaders of ISIS, used his position in a raqqa tribe to help ISIS successfully occupy raqqa.
The intertwining of political forces, the contradictions between the Kurds and the Arabs, and the dispute between Shiites and Sunnis have marked countless question marks for the reconstruction and future of Raqqa.
From the perspective of ISIS's actions, many analysts have pointed out that the loss of Raqqa will not stop ISIS from launching attacks, but only make it change the way it attacks.
Political News Network quoted Graeme Wood, an ISIS researcher at Yale University, as saying that isis's loss of major occupations, including Raqqa, was an important blow to its "nation-building" and also meant that the group lost its base camp for training soldiers and planning attacks.
Wood noted that ISIS members trained in Syria had carried out the worst terrorist attacks, so the loss of Raqqa would certainly affect the ability of those people to carry out attacks.
Dan Byman, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, also pointed out that with ISIS's defeat on the battlefield, the group may use other ways to prove ISIS's resilience to supporters, and international terrorism is one of the ways.
Beeman said ISIS had previously encouraged supporters to travel to Syria and Iraq to fight. But in recent years, the group has built up internal networks in countries to allow supporters to launch attacks in their own countries, such as those in Europe and the United States.
A report earlier this year showed that ISIS had recruited a large number of supporters from overseas: 6,000 from Tunisia, 7,000 from Russia, more than 2,000 from Turkey and Jordan, and about 1,000 from Britain and France for the Middle East.
In addition to Syria and Iraq, ISIS has local affiliates in Libya, West African countries, Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, the Philippines, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Previously, researchers have pointed out that isis should have anticipated the defeat in Raqqa and Mosul, so the ultimate goal of the organization is not to establish an entity state, but to achieve "immortality" through ideological conquest.
When the Iraqi government announced the liberation of Mosul in July, Townsend, commander of the U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq, warned that it was imperative to prevent "isis 2.0 from emerging."
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