The Global Coalition welcomes this announcement and recognises that SDF forces will need to cover considerable terrain in order to position themselves to isolate the city and that this will take time. The Global Coalition will support this SDF operation and encourages all Coalition partners to remain focused on our common goal of defeating Daesh.
On 6 November, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the preliminary phase of an operation to take Raqqa, Daesh’s main stronghold in Syria.