US-backed alliance announces 'phase two' of Raqa campaign

A US-backed alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters announced today "phase two" of its campaign for the Islamic State group's Syrian bastion of Raqa.
The announcement came after US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter told a security forum in Bahrain that Washington was sending an additional 200 troops to join the 300 it has already deployed in support of the offensive.
The Syrian Democratic Forces will "begin phase two of the campaign, which aims to liberate territory west of Raqa and isolate the city," spokeswoman Jihan Sheikh Ahmed told reporters.
Speaking in the village of Aaliyah, north of Raqa, Ahmed said the SDF had captured 700 square kilometres (270 square miles) of territory since it began its advance on the city on November 5.

The alliance had also grown in size, she said, with more than 1,500 local fighters joining forces with the SDF after being "trained and equipped by the international coalition."
The SDF's coordination with the US-led coalition "will be stronger and more effective during the second phase of the campaign," Ahmed said.

Backed by coalition air strikes, the SDF has been pushing south from areas near the Turkish border, seizing a string of villages and advancing to within 25 kilometres (15 miles) of the city.
With a pre-war population of about 240,000, Raqa is the de facto capital of the self-styled caliphate IS declared across Iraq and Syria in 2014.

The jihadist group still holds Al-Bab, to the west, and most of the city of Deir Ezzor, to the southeast.