Air Strikes Pummel Syria's Raqa as U.S.-Backed Forces Advance on IS

[TomSea]

Air Strikes Pummel Syria's Raqa as U.S.-Backed Forces Advance on IS
By Naharnet Newsdesk 15 hours ago

Heavy bombardment and fierce fighting shook the Islamic State group's Syrian stronghold Raqa on Monday, as U.S.-backed forces said they captured a new neighborhood from entrenched jihadists.

Bursts of gunfire and artillery as well as the thud of air strikes conducted by the U.S.-led coalition filled the air in western neighborhoods of Raqa, on what AFP's correspondent said was the heaviest day of bombardment to date.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, updating an earlier toll, said the air strikes killed at least 10 civilians, two of them children.

Thick pillars of black smoke dotted the city skyline, lined with bombed-out concrete homes and the damaged minaret of a mosque.

"Our American friends are bombing with mortars," a fighter from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said after a string of blasts near the front line in western Raqa.

The SDF's Kurdish and Arab fighters have been pressing an operation to capture the jihadist stronghold since last year with coalition air support and the backing of a U.S. Marines artillery battery.

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