Michael Fallon
Syrian opposition supported by the West, needs to take in the siege of Raqqa, which is the de facto capital of the terrorist group “Islamic state” (IG, is prohibited in Russia), “the spring”, followed by the assault on the city. As reported Reuters, said the British defence Secretary Michael Fallon.
“I hope that the isolation of [the city] will be completed by the spring, and then can begin the operation to liberate Raqqa itself,” — said the Minister.
At the same time, Fallon noticed that Rakka is much less under the control of the ISIS for the Iraqi city of Mosul, which is currently storming the country’s armed forces and the militia. “It is obvious that the IG is very active on the defensive and this means that the operation to liberate Raqqa needs to be very carefully prepared as the operation in Mosul,” he added, expressing confidence that the capture of the city will be the beginning of the end “of this terrible Caliphate.”
On 8 February, the presidents of Turkey and the United States, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Donald trump agreed to cooperate in the attack on the Syrian city of al-Bab and raqqa.
28 Jan trump has instructed his administration to find new foreign partners for the coalition leading the fight against ISIS. In the Memorandum he ordered to proceed immediately to the creation of a comprehensive plan to defeat terrorists. Within 30 days the Minister of defence is obliged to submit to the President a preliminary draft, which should be “revealed new coalition partners in the fight against ISIS and policies to support coalition partners in the fight against ISIS and its supporters”.
At the end of December, the commander of the international coalition, Lieutenant General U.S. army Stephen Townsend said that raqqa and Mosul would be released by the end of 2018.
Led by the Washington coalition of several dozen States conducts operations on the territory of Iraq and Syria in 2014. It is from the air support Kurdish and some opposition forces in their fight against the terrorist group “Islamic state”.