Arab, Kurdish forces set to liberate Daesh-held Syrian city of Raqqah

An alliance of Kurdish and Arab forces is set to launch a massive offensive to liberate the Daesh-held northeastern Syrian city of Raqqah.

“We are ready. We have the sufficient numbers for this campaign and we will start it soon,” Talal Sello, a spokesman of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said in the northeastern city of Hasakah on Thursday.

“We will see a campaign led by the Syrian Democratic Forces to liberate Raqqah city,” he added, without specifying a timeline.

Meanwhile, the spokesman rejected any Turkish role or participation in the operation.

In recent months, the SDF coalition, which is dominated by fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), has flushed Daesh Takfiri terrorists out of swathes of territory in northern Syria, most recently the flashpoint town of Manbij.

It managed to take “almost complete control” of the area, located 446 kilometers north of the Syrian capital, Damascus, in early August.

Raqqah is the terrorist group’s self-proclaimed “capital.” Daesh took over the city in March 2013.

Daesh terrorists have been losing ground in both Syria and Iraq, where they have been involved in a campaign of terror over the past years.

A potential recapture of Raqqah in Syria and Mosul in northern Iraq is seen as the ultimate blow to Daesh.