Posted on 06/24/2015 9:02:18 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
ISIS is reportedly digging trenches and calling on reinforcements to prepare for a possible assault by Kurdish forces on their stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria, activists and a Kurdish official told CNN on Wednesday.
ISIS moved a convoy of nearly 100 military vehicles packed with arms, ammunition and fighters from the eastern countryside of Raqqa to one of the terror group's bases within the city, Rami Abdurahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told CNN on Wednesday. The observatory is a London-based monitoring group.
Fortification of the group's de-facto capital in Syria comes just a day after Kurdish YPG forces backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes wrested control of the town of Ain Isa, the observatory reported. The tactical victory puts ISIS' formidable rivals just 55 kilometers (about 34 miles) away from the city of Raqqa.
"Fighters are still clearing homes and streets of booby-traps and mines. There are some clashes from ISIS pockets on the outskirts of the town, but Ain Isa and the surrounding villages are free of the ISIS terrorists," said Ismet Sheik Hassan, the Kurdish Defense Minister of Kobani where many of the YPG fighters originate.
South of the clashes, one activist group reported Raqqa's Kurdish minority was ordered to evacuate the city or face detention, said Abu Ibrahim al-Raqawi, the head of Raqqah is Being Slaughtered Silently, from the Turkey-Syria border.
"ISIS is afraid the Kurds will lend their support to the YPG, and some may be sleeper cells, so an order was issued. All Kurds must report to an ISIS office within 72 hours," al-Raqawi said based on reporting from activists inside Raqqa. "They are forced to hand over the keys to their homes and leave the city."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Then we should be bombing anything that moves in Raqqa 24 hours a day.
“Then we should be bombing anything that moves in Raqqa 24 hours a day.”
We should be but that would be against Obama’s grand plan. He loves dem muslims. Kurds not so much.
Is it just my imagination or does it seem like just about every other article is authored by someone with a Muzzie sounding name?
Kurds choking Raqqa supply lines. If you’re an ISIS sand monkey, leaving now would be a pretty strong option.
The Kurds are Muslim.
I’ve noticed that too. And not just about Middle East topics.
Not quite yet. Causing the enemy to concentrate and fortify to protect something they value is a prerequisite to mass bombing attacks. The Kurds closing in on Raqqa is the ground-based threat that ISIS cannot maneuver away from to conserve its forces. Having declared it their capital, they must stay and must defend. So let ISIS summon reinforcements and dig their trench lines.
Handled properly, Raqqa will act as a magnet sucking in more and mores ISIS fighters and concentrating them where they cannot avoid being destroyed by fire; especially by bombardment from the air. This will have to be very carefully managed and adequate Kurdish forces assigned.
The key is to maintain a constant and credible threat to the city but not slam the door on their ingress until the city is filled with ISIS. Then you must ensure the door stays shut so they cannot escape or the siege of Raqqa is lifted by a relief force.
Then bomb them, barrage them with artillery and rockets, starve them, and finally conduct a very thorough and very merciless clearing operation. ISIS will certainly deserve every bad thing that happens to them.
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