Here are some of the toughest battles still to be fought against ISIL

[Peter1469]

Here are some of the toughest battles still to be fought against ISIL

The Islamic State is on the run. It lost Mosul. It is hard pressed in Raqqa- its capital. But there are several ISIL strongpoints to take. Here is a list.

The battle of Mosul is over, but the war against the Islamic State is far from done. The militants have lost some 60 percent of the territory they controlled at the peak of their expansion, but that leaves a sizable area, mostly in Syria but also Iraq, to be recaptured. Much of it is uninhabited desert, but significant towns and cities in both countries, and almost a whole province in Syria, remain in the militants’ hands. Among them are staunch Islamic State strongholds, located in some of the most remote terrain of the war. In some instances, it isn’t yet clear which forces will undertake the battles, and potential local and international flash points lie ahead as competing powers vie for the chance to control territory.

Here are six of the toughest battles still to be fought.

Read the rest at the link and see the maps.

[MisterVeritis]

Here are some of the toughest battles still to be fought against ISIL
The Islamic State is on the run. It lost Mosul. It is hard pressed in Raqqa- its capital. But there are several ISIL strongpoints to take. Here is a list.

Read the rest at the link and see the maps.

Isolate the strong points. Prevent food, water, and fuel from getting in.

[DGUtley]

Still more blood to be spilled, I see.

[Peter1469]

Raqqa's Old City is freed. Still a long way to go.

U.S.-backed forces in Syria have captured the Old City of Raqqa, the latest milestone in their ongoing assault against the self-proclaimed capital of the Islamic State’s rapidly shrinking territories, according to a U.S. military statement on Monday.

Kurdish and Arab fighters with the Syrian Democratic Forces secured the neighborhood over the weekend after vanquishing a last pocket of resistance in the city’s historic Great Mosque, the statement said.


The capture followed a grinding two-month battle for the neighborhood that has proved the toughest challenge yet of a three-month-old offensive for Raqqa, launched in June and still far from over.