SDF Pushes Toward Raqqa From the South
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) seized territory from the so-called Islamic State on the southern bank of the Euphrates River Wednesday, Reuters reported, citing a war monitor and a Kurdish official.
The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday SDF forces had moved along the southern riverbank to reach the eastern edge of the suburb of Kasrat al-Farj, in the area between the new and old bridges into Raqqa.
Nouri Mahmoud, a spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militia, which forms part of the SDF, told Reuters that ISIS had been ousted from Kasrat al-Farj as the SDF moved in from the west along the southern riverbank.
By closing in on the militant-held city of Raqqa from the south, the SDF is aiming to complete the encirclement of the city, which they have already surrounded from the north, west and east.
Reuters said that the SDF is a “couple of kilometers” away from enacting the siege, following Wednesday’s advances.
Macron Sees No Successor to Assad
French president Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that he does not see a “legitimate successor” to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Reuters reported.
The new French president also said that he does not consider Assad’s removal to be a priority in solving the Syrian conflict and stressed the need to cooperate in the fight against terrorism.
“The new perspective that I have had on this subject is that I have not stated that Bashar al-Assad’s departure is a precondition for everything because nobody has shown me a legitimate successor,” Macron was quoted as saying.
“My lines are clear: First, a complete fight against all the terrorist groups. They are our enemies,” he said. “We need everybody’s cooperation, especially Russia, to eradicate them.”
Wednesday’s comments, which mark a departure from the previous French administration’s position toward the Syrian president, are the strongest indication yet of what the French government’s policy will be in relation to Assad.
Pro-Government Forces Advance on Damascus Suburb
Syrian troops and allied forces seized territory from rebels in the eastern suburbs of the capital, Damascus, Wednesday, Reuters reported, citing pro-government military media and a war monitor.
According to Hezbollah’s military media, pro-government forces captured a number of blocks in the Jobar district, and another area in Ain Terma more than a mile to the south.
Meanwhile, warplanes have launched more than two dozen airstrikes in Jobar and Ain Terma since Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.