The Latest: France to provide airstrikes in battle for Raqqa

The Syria Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led group that includes Arab fighters and is backed by U.S. air power, announced the offensive earlier on Sunday. Raqqa is the de facto capital of the extremist group’s self-styled Islamic caliphate.

France has long suspected that IS planned last year’s Paris attacks in Raqqa.

Le Drian linked the battle for Raqqa with the Iraqi offensive against the IS-held city of Mosul. The two cities are the largest urban areas still under IS control.

France began striking IS targets in Iraq in 2014 and in Syria the following year, including in Raqqa.

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7:40 p.m.

A senior U.S. official says Washington will provide air support for an offensive to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State group.

Brett McGurk, the White House envoy to the U.S.-led military coalition against IS, spoke to reporters in Jordan after the offensive was announced Sunday by the Syria Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led group with Arab fighters.

The envoy says the U.S. is also in “close, close contact” with its ally Turkey.

The U.S. considers the Syrian Kurdish fighters to be among the most effective forces battling IS, but Turkey views them as a terror organization.

McGurk says that “we want this to be as co-ordinated as possible, recognizing that there will be a mix of forces on the field.”

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7:20 p.m.

Britain is providing aerial surveillance to help a newly launched offensive against the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State group’s self-described caliphate.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon says the Royal Air Force “will support the Raqqa operation as it develops.” He said the “sophisticated surveillance effort” would give the coalition a vital edge in Syria.

A Syrian Kurdish-led force which is backed by U.S.-led air power announced an operation to retake Raqqa earlier Sunday.

Fallon also said UK strikes are “making a difference” in the sustained assault against IS in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, where Iraqi forces launched a major operation last month to drive out the extremists.

The two cities are the largest controlled by the extremist group.

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7:15 p.m.

U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter has welcomed the announcement of an offensive to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State group.

The offensive was announced Sunday by the Syria Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led group with Arab fighters that is backed by U.S. air power.

Carter says “the effort to isolate, and ultimately liberate, Raqqa marks the next step in our coalition campaign plan.”

He said that as in the Iraqi city of Mosul, the target of another anti-IS offensive, “the fight will not be easy and there is hard work ahead.”

But he says the operation is necessary to “disrupt the group’s ability to carry out terror attacks against the United States, our allies and our partners.”

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6:50 p.m.

Syrian activists are reporting heavy clashes between U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian forces and Islamic State militants north of Raqqa.

The clashes just south of the Kurdish-controlled town of Ein Issa were reported a few hours after the Syria Democratic Forces, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters, announced the start of their campaign to drive IS out of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the extremist group’s self-styled caliphate.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said SDF forces seized control of six small villages and farms in the northern Raqqa countryside. It reported strong activity by U.S.-led coalition warplanes and airstrikes that struck IS positions. The Observatory also said IS detonated two car bombs that targeted the advancing forces.

A Raqqa-based Syrian activist group known as Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently also reported the clashes.

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5:45 p.m.

Turkey’s president says allied Syrian opposition fighters are fast approaching the Syrian town of al-Bab, a stronghold of the Islamic State group.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised speech Sunday that “our aim is to go to al-Bab and expel them toward the south,” adding that the opposition fighters were up to 9 miles (15 kilometres) from the town.

He did not comment on an announcement by Syrian Kurdish-led forces that they had launched an offensive to recapture the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the extremist group’s self-styled caliphate.

Both groups of Syrian fighters have been battling IS in recent months, but they have also turned their guns on each other. Turkey views the Syrian Kurdish forces as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency in its southeast.

The Turkey-backed forces have vowed to drive both IS and the Syrian Kurdish forces from the border.

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3:15 p.m.

Syrian activists say a rocket or mortar barrage struck a preschool in an opposition-controlled suburb of the capital, Damascus, killing at least six children.

The activist-run Unified Medical Bureau of Eastern Ghouta reported the death toll and said medical facilities in the suburb of Harista received tens of wounded children and adults following Sunday’s shelling.

The locally-run Education Directorate said government forces struck the school during the first recess of the day. It said more than 25 children were wounded in addition to the six killed.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of local activists, also blamed government forces for the strike.

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1 p.m.

U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian forces have announced the start of a campaign to retake the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa from the extremist group.

The announcement by the Syria Democratic Forces was made Sunday at a press conference in Ein Issa, north of Raqqa.

It comes more than two weeks after U.S.-backed Iraqi forces began a campaign to clear IS militants from their stronghold in Mosul, Iraq.

The SDF is dominated by the main Syrian Kurdish fighting force known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG.

The United States considers the Syrian Kurdish fighters as the most effective force against the IS, but Turkey views them as a terror organization and has said it will not accept a role for the Kurds in the liberation of Raqqa.

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

The Latest: France to provide airstrikes in battle for Raqqa

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