Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa

Safa al-Hussein comes into the consultation room with her four-year-old daughter, Ahed, who has a leg injury she suffered during an attack on the northern Syrian city of Raqqa.

France's military said on Thursday the coalition battling Islamic State in Syria had opposed a deal allowing fighters of the militant group to withdraw from their former bastion of Raqqa, reported Reuters. 

The coalition had also been unable to launch air strikes against the fighters because they had mingled with civilians, French army spokesman Patrik Steiger said.

Now that the U.S. has finally pushed the button for the long-planned Raqqa operation in Syria to dismantle the so-called caliphate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the genie is out of the bottle.

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said on June 6 Ankara will retaliate immediately if the operation by U.S.-backed forces to capture Raqqa, Islamic State Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) de facto capital in Syria, presents a threat to Turkey.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said on June 6 they were launching a new phase in their assault on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group's bastion Raqqa, after advancing to the city's outskirts.
 

The international coalition battling the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) will begin a final push on the jihadists' Syrian stronghold Raqqa in the coming days, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on March 24.

The United States' preparations regarding the Raqqa operation have accelerated; they have started forming supply lines and delivering logistics equipment. A portion of the heavy weapons have already arrived, but more will come. 

As the spring equinox starts with March 21, which is celebrated as the ancient new year under the name of Nevruz or Newroz in many eastern cultures, preparations are about to be completed for a major offensive on the Syrian city of Raqqa, which has been under occupation by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) since January 2014. According to diplomatic sources, if the operation does

The United States and its local Arab, Christian and Kurdish allies—the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)—in northeastern Syria are preparing to attack Raqqa, the reportedly heavily defended last bastion of ISIL. The current plan is that U.S. forces will train, arm, advise and support the SDF, who will then bear the brunt of the direct fighting to liberate and then secure the city.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said on Feb. 10 that Operation Euphrates Shield was an obligatory operation for Turkey to protect its borders. 

With the success of the al-Bab operation, Euphrates Shield Operation will reach its goal, Kurtulmuş said in an interview with Turkish broadcaster HaberTürk.