U.S. Military on the Ground in Raqqa
U.S. military advisers and troops, including special operations forces, have started working in the city of Raqqa, according to Agence France Presse.
U.S. military spokesperson Col. Ryan Dillon said that the role of the U.S. military in ISIS’s former de facto capital is to “advise, assist and accompany” the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an Arab-Kurdish alliance, to push militants out.
The SDF have been working to capture Raqqa since November 2016 and, with the help of the U.S.-led coalition Operation Inherent Resolve, were finally able to breach an ancient wall into the Old City on June 6.
While U.S. troops are not playing a direct combat role, they are working closely with the coalition and calling in airstrikes.
“They are much more exposed to enemy contact than those in Iraq,” Dillon said, adding that the coalition has seen increasing deployment of commercial drones armed with explosives by ISIS, a tactic that has also been used by fighters in Mosul.
The U.S. military is reluctant to release information about how many troops have been deployed in Syria. However, it has previously stated that around 500 special operations fighters are on the ground with the purpose of assisting the SDF.
WFP Scales Up Food Delivery to Raqqa Governorate
The World Food Programme (WFP) has been able to make food deliveries to two locations in the Raqqa governorate for the first time in three years, according to the United Nations agency.
A land route that connects Aleppo to Hasakah was recently opened, giving organizations access to Mansoura and other rural areas north of Raqqa. In just over a month, WFP has provided 52 trucks loaded with food assistance to eight remote locations within Raqqa governorate as well as neighboring governorates.
With this new access, WFP will be able to regularly deliver food and nutrition supplies to Raqqa, where nearly 200,000 displaced people depend on food deliveries.
WFP previously relied on airlifts to deliver food and nutrition assistance from Damascus to Qamishli, which then made it way to the Hasakah, Raqqa and Deir Ezzor governorates. The shift from air to land routes also saves an “estimated $19 million per year, as each truck on the road carries the equivalent of a planeload of food at a significantly lower cost,” according to Jakob Kern, WFP’s country director for Syria.
“With these cost savings and improved access, we are now reaching more families and people returning to their homes who need our help with regular food deliveries,” Kern said.
Suicide Bomber in Idlib Province Kills and Injures Dozens
A suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden car into a Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) headquarters near Idlib city on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
At least 12 were killed and many others injured in the attack on the group’s base located in a textile factory, a rebel source told Reuters.
The jihadist rebel group, which has ties to al-Qaida’s former Syrian affiliate, recently began a campaign to round up those associated with ISIS sleeper cells in Idlib province.
HTS said that at least 100 people have been arrested over the last few days. Among those arrested are senior operatives said to have been involved in an outbreak of assassinations and bombings in the province.