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Daesh declares state of emergency in Syria's Raqqah: US

Saturday, 14 May 2016 4:32 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 14 May 2016 4:32 PM ]

Colonel Steve Warren, a US spokesman for the so-called anti-Daesh forces. (File photo)

The Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group has declared a state of emergency in Syria’s northern province of Raqqah, a US military official says.

Colonel Steve Warren, a US spokesman for the so-called anti-Daesh forces, told reporters on Friday that the terrorist group is moving its forces around the provincial capital and trying to put up covers in certain areas to shield potential targets from airstrikes and ground attacks, CNN reported.

"We have seen this declaration of emergency in Raqqah, whatever that means," Warren said.

He said media reports indicate that Daesh has been repositioning “both their combat capabilities” as well as militants “either within the city or even out of the city."

“They see the Syrian Democratic Forces, along with the Syrian Arab Coalition, maneuver both to their east and to their west," Warren said.

"Both of these areas becoming increasingly secure, and the Syrian Democratic Forces increasingly able to generate their own combat power in those areas,” he added.

Tajir Kobani, a spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, Armenian, and Turkmen fighters, backed by the People's Protection Units (YPG) said earlier this week that the coalition commanders have been planning a final operation to liberate Raqqah from Daesh.

Raqqah has been under full control of Daesh since February 2014. The city has also been pounded by US airstrikes which purportedly have been targeting the terrorists' positions inside Syria since September 2014.

The US along with some of its regional allies launched its campaign inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or the United Nations.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The United Nations special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict so far, which has also displaced over half of the Arab country's pre-war population of about 23 million.

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