The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have announced that it plans to carry out a large-scale offensive on Raqqa without any participation of Turkey.
Kurdish fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (Photo: Reuters / Rodi Said)
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), mostly composed of Kurdish fighters, have announced that it has a plan to carry out a large-scale offensive on Raqqa and recapture the city from the Islamic State (IS) group without any participation of Turkey, media reported, citing spokesman for the SDF, Talal Salou.
“The issue of a partnership with Turkey was discussed with the [US-led] coalition and definitively resolved. There will be no Turkish participation in the Raqqa operation,” Salou said. “We are ready. We have a sufficient number of fighters for this campaign, and we will start it soon,” he added.
At the end of October, Salou blamed the US-led coalition for lack of supplies of necessary weapons and military hardware for the Kurdish forces in order to help it to liberate Raqqa province from IS terrorists.
“Liberation of Raqqa from the ISIS is the SDF’s main goal, which needs weapons, logistic support and military supply from the international coalition,” Salou told the Fars news agency at the time.
He also noted that the SDF asked the coalition to help, however, did not receive any answer. Salou stressed that the Kurdish forces cannot start such a major operation like Raqqa’s liberation with its “meager military possibilities.”
At the same time, retired colonel of the Syrian Army, Elias Ebrahim, told Fars that the US delays military operations of the SDF against terrorist groups in the province of Raqqa, trying to save them there. He noted that the main reason of the fact that Washington insists on a political solution of the Syrian crisis is an attempt to avoid coordination with Russia to combat the terrorist groups.
He stressed that the US side deceived the Kurdish forces, rendering them an ineffective assistance. According to Ebrahim, Washington did this, trying to delay attacks of Kurds on Raqqa, “while the Kurdish fighters were behind the Raqqa gates.”
Ebrahim also ‘thanked’ Ankara for supporting of terrorists and treating injured militants in the country’s hospitals.
