Carter began an operation to isolate and further liberation of Raqqa
WASHINGTON, 6 Nov. /Offset. TASS Dmitry Kirsanov/. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced the beginning of military operations aimed at first isolating, and then at the liberation of Raqqa. The corresponding statement on behalf of the head of the Pentagon circulated on Sunday by the press service of the Ministry.
“I welcome today’s announcement of SDS (“Forces of democratic Syria” — the armed forces, the backbone of whom are Kurds — approx. TASS) that started the operation to liberate Raqqa from the barbaric clutches of ISIS (formerly the banned terrorist group “Islamic state”, ISIS),” said Carter. Raqqa in recent years was the so-called capital of the extremists proclaimed a “Caliphate” in the occupied territories of Iraq and Syria.
According to the head of the U.S. Department of defense, “efforts to isolate and ultimately to liberate Raqqa, marked the next step in terms of” fight against ISIS, developed “our coalition”, a group of countries led by the United States leading military operations in Iraq and Syria.
“As in Mosul, the fight will not be easy, it is a difficult job,” admitted Carter. However, he said, such efforts are necessary in order to “end the speculation about the existence of a “Caliphate” (ISIS) and to exclude any possibility for this group to carry out attacks against the United States” and their foreign “allies and partners”. “Our coalition will continue to do everything possible to help local forces in Iraq and Syria to strike ISIS crushing defeat,” assured the Minister.