by AFP
S President Donald Trump said Saturday a transition can soon begin to set conditions for lasting peace in Syria now that the end of the Islamic State “caliphate is in sight” with the fall of Raqqa.
The United States and its allies will support diplomatic negotiations “that end the violence, allow refugees to return safely home, and yield a political transition that honors the will of the Syrian people,” Trump said in a statement.The declaration came four days after US-backed Kurdish-led forces recaptured Raqqa, the capital of IS’s self-proclaimed caliphate and its last major stronghold in Syria.
Trump said the entire city has been liberated from IS control, which he said marked a “critical breakthrough” in the global struggle against the militant group.
“With the liberation of ISIS’s capital and the vast majority of its territory, the end of the ISIS caliphate is in sight,” Trump said, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State group
https://www.timesofisrael.com/after-raqqa-falls-trump-says-defeat-of-is-in-sight/
