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U.S. Doesnt Know Who Will Attack ISIS HQ

Iraqi soldiers reinforce to guard the Bartella frontline east of Mosul Iraq on Oct. 26 2016. Iraqi security forces on Wednesday inched to the eastern fringes of the city of Mosul and made progress on other routes around the city preparing for the maj

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told NBC News on Wednesday that a U.S. -backed offensive by Arab and Kurdish fighters to recapture ISIS's capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa will likely begin in a few weeks.

Operations against the Islamic State are further along across the border in Iraq, where a force of more than 30,000 Iraqi army troops are closing in on Mosul, the second-largest Iraqi city.

Fighters of the Syria Democratic Forces take an overwatch position in Raqqa, Syria, May 27.

Before Iraqi forces and their USA backers have set foot in Mosul, the U.S. and its allies have begun preparations to imminently wrest the Syrian city of Raqqa from the Islamic State, a momentous decision aimed at destroying what is left of Isis's self-declared caliphate.

The fight to retake Raqqa must begin within weeks to disrupt planning believed to be under way there to stage terrorist attacks on the West, senior United States officials have said.

"We'll have what we need to get the job done in Raqqa", Townsend said.

The US strategy in both Iraq and Syria "succeeded" in terms of creating chaos and then using it as a pretext either to "bring democracy" or "clear the area from terrorists" - the same terrorists they backed, says Middle East expert Marwa Osman.

Yet the complexity of preparations to take Raqqa have left the offensive's timetable an open question. "We'll move soon to isolate Raqqa with the forces that are ready to go".

As we know, America's now preparing to help liberate Raqqa from ISIS by "generating" local forces.

"The only force that is capable on any near-term timeline are the Syrian Democratic Forces, of which the YPG are a significant portion", Townsend said.

That operation has its own complications, namely over the role of Iraq's powerful Shiite militias and of Turkey, which considers Sunni-majority Mosul to be part of its natural sphere of influence.

The worldwide coalition hopes a two-pronged attack on Isil's largest strongholds in Syria and Iraq will put pressure on the terror group and weaken its defences.

On Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country's military operation in support of Syrian opposition fighters in northern Syria would extend to Raqa.

The Kurds have been leading the fight against the Islamic State in Syria.

To the south of Mosul, another Iraqi commander said ISIL has been withdrawing from the town of Shura, its stronghold between Mosul and Qayyarah, toward the city, taking civilians with them to use as human shields and leaving behind explosive booby-traps to slow the troops' advance.

The sounds of fighting on the northern and eastern fronts of the Mosul offensive could now be heard inside the city, residents said, and aircraft of the US-led coalition were flying lower over the city than usual.

"As the fighting gets closer to more populated areas, we're starting to see more and more families flee the fighting", said Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker from Iraq.

"For those who come back, there is a structure in place to try to identify them, but I think it is now urgent... to develop tailor-made approaches to these individuals, because an overall one-size-fits-all does not work", he says.

The PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the PYD, are both listed as terrorist groups by Turkey, although the USA and European Union only view the PKK as a terrorist organization.

"Syrian commanders will make decisions about what needs to be done there to completely encircle, to partially encircle and to attack from this direction or attack from that direction".

stayontheblack.com

U.S. Doesnt Know Who Will Attack ISIS HQ