ISIS Appears to Lose Ground in Fight for Its Raqqa Base
Over the weekend, American military officials said the United States had strengthened its contingent of Syria-based forces to help deter clashes
around Manbij, a town in northern Syria near the Turkish border, which Kurdish militia members helped capture from the Islamic State in August.
By RICK GLADSTONE and MAHER SAMAANMARCH 6, 2017
The Islamic State appeared to suffer an important setback on Monday when American-backed militia fighters in Syria seized the main route
that connects Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital, to its territory in southeastern Deir al-Zour Province.
The impending assault also represents a test of the complex array of competing forces
in Syria fighting the Islamic State — forces that also could turn on one another.
In a sign that the Islamic State is preparing for a possible retreat, male civilians in Raqqa were recently ordered to start dressing similarly to the group’s fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory
and a second monitoring group known as Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently.
They include rebel Kurdish and Arab militia members trained
and equipped by the United States, Turkish soldiers, the Syrian forces of President Bashar al-Assad and his militia allies supported by Russia and Iran.
By blending into the population, Islamic State fighters not only improve their escape prospects,
but make distinguishing civilians from combatants difficult for the American-backed coalition of aerial forces hitting targets around Raqqa.
