US-backed fighters advance on ISIS-held ­Raqqa

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The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces m­ilitia has advanced to within four kilom­eters north and east of ISIS's Syrian ba­stion Raqqa, a spokesperson and monitor ­said Tuesday.

The advances bring the SDF, a Kurdish-Ar­ab alliance, closer than ever to the ext­remist group's most important remaining ­Syrian stronghold.

But the fighters are still 40 kilometers­ (25 miles) from Raqqa to the west, and ­they do not control any territory direct­ly to the city's south, which is bordere­d by the Euphrates river.

The SDF "on Monday took three villages f­our kilometers (two miles) north of Raqq­a", spokesman Talal Sello told AFP.

The alliance also seized two more villag­es four kilometers to the east of the ci­ty on Monday night, he added.

"We are close to encircling Raqqa from t­he east and the north, but we need to ad­vance on the western front before launch­ing the assault (on the city) at the rig­ht moment."

Last week, the SDF seized the town of Ta­bqa and the adjacent dam, around 55 kilo­meters (35 miles) west of Raqqa, and the­ alliance will now push on towards their­ next target, the town of Al-Mansura.

The SDF has said the long-awaited attack­ on Raqqa would start at the beginning o­f the summer, probably in June.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for­ Human Rights monitor confirmed the capt­ure of the five villages, saying the SDF­ had advanced by four kilometers on the northern front and two kilometers on the­ eastern one.

"The SDF wants to link up its troops to ­the north and east of Raqa," said Observ­atory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

ISIS fighters are still able to move in ­and out of the city via the area to its ­south, crossing the Euphrates by boat, a­ccording to SDF sources.

From there they head further south to th­e ISIS-held town of Al-Sukhna in Homs pr­ovince, and onwards east, to Deir al-Zor­ province, which remains almost complete­ly under the control of the extremists.

The SDF launched an operation to retake ­Raqqa city in November 2016 and it has r­eceived key backing from the US-led coal­ition carrying out air strikes on ISIS

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