US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces on Tuesday took two villages from the Islamic State in Raqqa province, tightening "their noose" on the radical group in an advance to isolate its base of operations, local activists said.
The Kurdish-led alliance has imposed siege on ISIS fighters in al-Ba’ath Dam after seizing control of Salhabiya and al-Yamama villages.
The SDF said it had found 21 bodies for ISIS fighters killed in the US airstrikes.
Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa, mostly tribesmen, will join the SDF in its fourth phase of Euphrates Wrath to liberate Raqqa from the radical group, source told Zaman al-Wasl.
Meanwhile, just two villages have been left under ISIS control east of al-Balikh River. Its fall means all eastern countryside to be under the SDF control, such an achievement paving the road Raqqa capture, the de facto capital of the Islamic State group.
Some 3,000 to 4,000 Islamic State fighters are thought to be holed up in Raqqa city where they continue to erect defenses against the anticipated assault, drawing coalition air strikes to stop them, Reuters reported.
On Monday, US-led coalition air strikes have killed 15 civilians in the eastern countryside of Raqqa, Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently said.
The strikes hit the town of Kdairan east of Raqaa. Three more people were also killed on Sunday by the coalition airstrikes.
US-led air strikes on Syria killed a total of 225 civilians over the past month, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday, the highest 30-day toll since the campaign began in 2014, according to Reuters.
The Observatory said the civilian dead between April 23 and May 23 included 44 children and 36 women
