Raqqa

An inscription reading 'Islamic State, State of Raqqa, Islamic Services Commission, Unified Taxation Office' painted on a wall of a destroyed building in Raqqa, Syria. Photo: EPA-EFE/AHMED MARDNLI

A total of 200 prisoners, most of whom are ISIL terrorists, were released from prisons by the YPG/PKK in Syria's Hasakah and Raqqa provinces after some Arab tribes vouched for them, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported on March 20.

More ISIL prisoners can be released if Arab tribes continue to vouch for them, the agency cited local sources as saying.

Fierce fighting between Syrian government forces and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has killed 64 combatants in Raqqa province over a 24-hour period, a monitoring group said yesterday.

At least 42 civilians were killed on Monday in an air strikes in the Syrian province of Raqqa by an aircraft from the US-led international coalition against the Middle Eastern radical Islamic State.

This is reported by the AFP, referring to data from the Syrian Human Rights Watch.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will meet in Washington in May ahead of a NATO summit, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said. 

The US-backed Kurdish-Arab force leading the fight for the ISIS’s Syrian bastion Raqqa announced Tuesday the creation of a “civilian council” to administer the city after its capture.

“The civilian council of Raqqa will be charged with administering Raqqa and the surrounding province after liberation,” the Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement.

The U.S.-led coalition has airlifted Syrian rebel forces to an operation near the Syrian town of Tabqa in Raqqa province while providing them with fire support, U.S. defense officials said on March 22.

BELGRADE - The Syrian army continues to move into the northern province of Raqqa, home to the de facto capital of the self-claimed caliphate of the Islamic State (IS/ISIS/ISIL) group fighting in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

The army first pushed into Raqqa Saturday.

BELGRADE - The predominately Kurdish 'Syrian Democratic Forces' (SDF) have made further advances in Raqqa province, and are now very close to entering Raqqa city.

Top Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) commander Omar al-Shishani has been "clinically dead" for several days after a US air strike in northern Syria, a monitoring group said March 13.