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Assad warplanes strike Daesh near Raqqa

June 8, 2017 at 11:46 am

Warplanes belonging to the Assad regime in Syria on March 20, 2017 [Diaa Al Din/Anadolu Agency]

Syrian government warplanes struck Daesh positions west of Raqqa city today, state media said.

“The air force destroyed positions and armoured vehicles” in the western Raqqa countryside, about 70 kilometres from the city, state-run news agency SANA said.

US-backed militias have separately been pushing into the edges of Raqqa city in the first days of their attack to seize Daesh’s base of operations in Syria.

Read: US: Raqqa campaign will accelerate

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, launched an assault this week to take the northern city. The SDF has been closing in for months with the help of airstrikes and special forces from the US-led coalition.

The Syrian army has made gains against Daesh in the east of Aleppo province, bringing them to the provincial border with Raqqa which is largely under SDF control. The Russian-backed Syrian army and allied militias then crossed into Raqqa province this week from neighbouring Aleppo.

Today’s strikes targeted areas near the provincial border, along a highway linking Raqqa to Aleppo and close to the Tabqa area the SDF captured from Daesh in May.

The Syrian government described the Kurdish-led war against Daesh as “legitimate” last month. Damascus also said its military priorities were Daesh-held Deir ez-Zor and the Badia region at the border with Jordan and Iraq, suggesting it does not intend to challenge the Raqqa campaign underway.