Några av oss har noterat att både kurder med stöd av USA, inklusive USA-soldater, och Syriens armé med Rysslands armé inleder anfall mot IS huvudstad Raqqa.
Så också Pål Steigan, förstås. Kapplöpningen mot Raqqa
Syriens armé – huvudkraften på marken mot den beväpnade terrorismen i världen – har enligt uppgifter haft en del framgångar under senare tid enligt rapporter idag.
* Syriens armé befriar flera områden i norra Palmyra Terroristgrupper (al-Nusra och Ahrar al-Sham) lider svåra förluster mot den syriska armén norr om Hama
* Syriska trupper når Raqqa-provinsen medan IS slåss på fyra fronter Fronten ligger här 80 km från staden Raqqua, som Syrien var tvunget att lämna i augusti 2014. USA-stödda kurdiska fronter finns 115 km från Raqqa enligt Belfast Telegraph.
*

Rysslands utrikesminister Lavrov

: USA ber oss att inte angripa al-Nusra (al-Qaidas gren i Syrien) 4/6

Pål Steigans artikel.
Den syriske arméen støttet av russisk flyvåpen har innledet et generalangrep på Raqqa, den såkalte «hovedstaden» til Den islamske staten. Samtidig prøver USA via kurdiske grupper de støtter å etablere et brohode samme sted. Minst 250 amerikanske spesialsoldater bistår i kampene.

The Independent skriver:
Syrian government forces have reportedly crossed into the province housing Isis’ de-facto capital in a new advance against the terrorist group.
President Bashar al-Assad’s troops have advanced up a major road into Raqqa from territory in neighbouring Hama and Aleppo governorates, according to monitors. They were said to be heading towards the so-called Islamic State’s stronghold of Tabqa, which houses a strategic dam on the Euphrates River.
Independent
At det koordinerte syrisk-russiske angrepet kommer nå har nettopp å gjøre med at USA prøver å omrokkere terroristgruppene i området, forsterke samarbeidet med kurderne, og samtidig samarbeide med Tyrkia. Målet deres er å splitte opp Syria i diverse enklaver.

Hurriet Daily News skriver at syriske millitære kilder nyanserer bildet: Hurriet Daily News
A Syrian military source, however, said that reports of an attack targeting Raqqa were «expectations», and that both Raqqa and Deir al-Zor, also in the hands of ISIL insurgents, were possible targets of army operations. The army announced on May 31 a new operation backed by Russian air strikes in the Athriya area of eastern Hama province close to the provincial border with Raqqa. State media said the army had made territorial gains and inflicted heavy casualties. «There is progress from Athriya on two fronts but the coming direction is not set,» the military source said.
Tidningen skriver också ”Al-Akhbar said the new Syrian army operation did not aim to reach Raqqa city ”in the coming weeks”, but the goal was at least to reach Tabqa city and Lake Assad, which it overlooks. Tabqa is some 50 km (30 miles) west of Raqqa city. ISIL captured Tabqa in 2014 at the height of its rapid expansion in Syria and Iraq.”

Almasdarnews melder derimot at offensiven er i full gang: Almasdarnews

Today (June 2nd), the Syrian Armed Forces, backed by the paramilitary ‘Desert Hawks’, launched a prolonged, full-scale offensive to oust ISIS from its de-facto capital of al-Raqqa. Thousands of the Syrian Army’s most experienced troops amassed at the town of Ithriya (in southern Aleppo) this morning. Photographs of the soldiers gathering at this town near the border of the Raqqa province reveal the scale of the operation; with soldiers, shown alongside armoured vehicles and heavy equipment, marching on towards the ISIS bastion.

Instämmer i Pål Steigans slutord Selv om det er nyanseforskjeller i rapportene, er det ingen tvil om at kampene hardner og at det såkalte kalifatet er hardt presset av den syriske armeens framganger.

i Andra om: IS, Syrien, terrorism, Raqqa, imperialism,massmedia, Ryssland, al-Nusra, USA, politik, fred, kurder