Photo by AFP
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) officially announced a start of the final phase of the battle for Raqqa after Syrian ISIS members had left the city.
The SDF said in a statement that “the battle of Martyr Adnan Abu Amjad would continue till the entire city would be cleaned of terrorists who refused to surrender among them foreign terrorists, and insisted to continue their desperate battle against our heroic forces.”
Earlier, SDF spokesperson Mostafa Bali told Reuters that “the final batch of [ISIS] fighters left the city” late on October 14. The spokesperson said that ISIS members took civilians as human shields.
According to conflicting reports, 275 ISIS members with some civilians left the city under the deal with the SDF. Pro-SDF sources argued that no foreign ISIS members were allowed to leave the city.
