In Raqqa, Syria, the US military and allied forces are advancing rapidly against ISIS. They estimate that the ISIS forces remaining in the city are between 500 and 900, down sharply from the totals in June. With Donald Trump replacing Barack Obama as US President, terrorists no longer have a safe haven in Syria and other parts of the Middle East.
“We have almost completed our job – Daesh (ISIS) now only controls less than 15 per cent of Raqqa,” said Haval Kané, a warrior with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said to The Sun.
“They are holding out in only two districts in the north and they are completely surrounded there.”
However, victory comes at a steep cost as casualties mount up rapidly from the warfare. A British NGO, Airwars, an independent reporting outlet, regularly measures the amount of death and destruction caused by wars throughout the world. They estimate that at least 433 civilians were killed in Raqqa during the month of August alone. Over that time period, 5,775 bombs, shells, and missiles were dropped onto the city.
Although the momentum seems to be in the favor of US forces as ISIS scrambles and retreats, libertarian analysts warn supporters of non-interventionism not to get their hopes up. This battle will likely continue on for awhile longer, and the area will be besieged by hellfire throughout that entire period. Additionally, blowback from the ‘collateral damage’ done to Syrian bystanders in the midst of the conflict will stoke the terror threat moving forward.
“Though US officials have claimed at times the Kurds have gained major territory in the fight, there is still no estimate of how much longer it will last, and US airstrikes are going to continue to be a deadly reality for Raqqa for the foreseeable future,” Jason Ditz said in an Antiwar.com report.
