U.S.-backed Syrian fighters have begun operations to retake Raqqa, the Islamic State’s capital of its so-called caliphate, effectively opening a second front in the war against the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.
Top leaders for the Syrian Defense Forces, the loose-knit coalition of Arab and Kurdish militias that have been battling the Islamic State in northern Syria, announced the beginning of Operation Euphrates Rage early Sunday.
Roughly 30,000 fighters, backed by American air power and U.S. military advisers on the ground, will participate in the operation to seal off and recapture Raqqa from the terrorist group, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
SDF spokeswoman Cihan Ehmed provided little detail during a press conference in Ein Issa, north of Raqqa, about when the operation would commence or where Syrian fighters would focus their attack.
But a joint operations command center, which will be the main hub for Syrian and coalition forces conducting the operation, has already been created, Ms. Ehmed said, according to The Associated Press.
In Washington, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter lauded the kickoff of the Raqqa campaign, noting that the operation “marks the next step in our coalition campaign plan.”
“As in Mosul, the fight will not be easy and there is hard work ahead, but it is necessary to end the fiction of ISIL’s caliphate,” in the Middle East and elsewhere around the globe, Mr. Carter said in a statement issued Sunday.
Mr. Carter met with several European defense chiefs last month in Paris to begin “laying the groundwork with our partners to commence the isolation of Raqqa,” he said afterward.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Sunday that his forces had launched an offensive to recapture the Islamic State-held northern Syrian city of Al Bab.
In August, Turkish troops flushed Islamic State fighters from the Syrian city of Jarablus, marking the first time Turkish forces have crossed into neighboring Syria to strike against Islamic State-held territory along the country’s border.
Ankara and Washington have been at odds over Turkey’s involvement in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria.
Turkey has aggressively voiced its opposition to the U.S. alliance with Kurdish members of the People’s Protection Unit, also known as YPG, the armed faction of the Kurdish Workers’ Party. Ankara considers the group to be on par with the Islamic State and other terrorist organizations.
YPG fighters in Syria and Kurdish peshmerga forces in Iraq have been among the most stalwart allies to American efforts against the Islamic State.
Mr. Erdogan refused to address or acknowledge the beginning of the Raqqa operation, which is being led by Arab and Kurdish fighters under the SDF banner.
When asked if Ankara’s military support would be welcome in the fight for Raqqa, Ms. Ehmed replied, “Our hope is that the Turkish state will not interfere in the internal affairs of Syria. … Raqqa will be free by its own sons.”
The SDF announced the Raqqa operation nearly three weeks after Iraqi and Kurdish forces launched their battle to retake Mosul, the Islamic State’s stronghold in northern Iraq.
Beginning the Raqqa offensive in the midst of the Mosul operation is part of the Pentagon’s plan to apply overwhelming pressure against the terrorist group, which has ceded much of the territory it gained during its blitz across the Middle East in 2014.
“There will be overlap, and that’s part of our plan, and we are prepared for that,” Mr. Carter said Tuesday.
But stiff Islamic State resistance along Mosul’s southern and eastern borders has slowed the coalition’s advance into the city.
Iraqi army and special operations units reportedly have been mired by difficult street fighting inside the city’s eastern suburbs.
In the south, Iraqi and coalition forces have retaken the town of Hammam al-Alil and are moving slowly toward Mosul’s southern borders amid waves of car bombs and suicide attacks by Islamic State defenders.
• Carlo Muñoz can be reached at cmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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