Raqqa, 2017

The battle, stage by stage

1. 6-10 June 2017

   Into the city from east and west

   Raqqa, on the north bank of the Euphrates, had been the Islamic State's de facto capital in Syria since 2014. After months of operations to isolate it, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led alliance backed by U.S.-led coalition air power, artillery and special forces advisers, announced the assault on 6 June. The Syrian Elite Forces announced their entry into the eastern Mishlab district, while other SDF units pushed in from the west toward Romaniya and pressed the northern edge. Coalition aircraft struck ahead of them. Local monitors reported dozens of civilians killed in the first days; on 10 June, according to Amnesty International, shelling killed at least 12 people in a residential area of Daraiya; the coalition later assessed the allegation as not credible.

2. 15-29 June

   The ring closes

   Through mid-June the eastern group fought into the Sinaa industrial district beside the Old City, and the western group into Qadisiya and the edge of Daraiya. ISIS answered with car bombs, mines and counterattacks; on 19 June fighters reportedly struck back at the Old City wall. South of the river, SDF units took Kasrat Sheikh Juma on 18 June and moved east through the Kasrat al-Faraj area; on 29 June the SDF said the city was completely surrounded. The coalition said the SDF controlled all high-speed routes into Raqqa south of the Euphrates, and estimated that about 2,500 ISIS fighters remained in the city, along with tens of thousands of civilians.

3. 3-4 July

   Breaching the Rafiqa wall

   The Old City sits inside the 8th-century Abbasid wall of al-Rafiqa, which ISIS had mined and used as a fighting position. On 3 July, U.S. Central Command said, coalition strikes opened two 25-meter gaps in the wall at points of the SDF's choosing, avoiding the mined breaks and sparing most of the roughly 2,500 meters still standing. SDF fighters entered the most heavily fortified part of the city; Associated Press reporting had them coming in by the Baghdad Gate and deploying around Qasr al-Banat. The exact breach sites were not published; they are drawn here on the east wall between the Baghdad Gate and Qasr al-Banat. In the south, the western group entered the Yarmouk and Hisham bin Abd al-Malik districts.

4. Late July to 11 August

   Cut off from the river

   By late July, the coalition said, the SDF held about 45 percent of the city. Fighting moved through Hisham bin Abd al-Malik and the districts between the Old City wall and the river, where coalition strikes were recorded near the al-Hal market and the old bridge. On 10–11 August the eastern and western fronts linked up on the city's southern edge, cutting ISIS off from the Euphrates. Coalition officials estimated in early August that about 2,000 ISIS fighters remained, holding the Old City's northern half and the central and northern districts.

5. 22 August - 2 September

   The Old City and the Great Mosque

   In late August the SDF pushed north through the Old City block by block, under heavy coalition air and artillery fire. On 1 September the SDF said ISIS had been driven from the Old City. The coalition said the SDF cleared the mosque on 2 September; the Great Mosque, the city's oldest, had been held by ISIS since 2014. ISIS fighters fell back toward the north-western districts around al-Naim roundabout, the National Hospital and the municipal stadium.

6. September - 15 October

   The last pocket and the deal

   Through September the SDF took the western and northern districts while coalition aircraft struck the remaining pocket; Airwars and Amnesty documented strikes that killed dozens of civilians in al-Badu in September and October. By 30 September, AFP reported, SDF fighters were dug in about 150 meters west of the National Hospital, an ISIS command post sheltering civilians, aiming to cut it off from the stadium. In mid-October local tribal elders and the Raqqa Civil Council arranged the evacuation of civilians and some fighters; the coalition, which said one of its officers attended an 11 October meeting without taking part, said it opposed any arrangement that allowed ISIS fighters to leave Raqqa. The convoy left overnight on 14–15 October. A BBC investigation later reported that about 4,000 people, among them at least 250 fighters and some foreign fighters, left by convoy; the coalition said only four foreign fighters were among them.

7. 16-17 October

   Al-Naim, the hospital and the stadium

   On 16 October the SDF took al-Naim roundabout, where ISIS had staged public executions. ISIS fighters at the National Hospital reportedly surrendered, leaving the municipal stadium, which ISIS had used as a prison, as the last holdout. When surrender talks dragged on, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, the SDF assaulted the stadium on 17 October, backed by U.S. special forces. Coalition spokesman Dillon said about 350 ISIS fighters had surrendered in the preceding days and that more than 90 percent of the city was in SDF hands.

8. 17-20 October 2017

   Victory declared over a ruined city

   The SDF announced on 17 October that fighting in Raqqa was over and formally declared victory on 20 October, saying it had lost 655 fighters in 134 days. The city lay in ruins. The United Nations estimated in September that 80 percent of Raqqa was uninhabitable. A UNITAR-UNOSAT satellite analysis of 21 October 2017 counted 12,668 affected structures (3,289 destroyed, 3,924 severely damaged, 5,455 moderately damaged), and a UN assessment mission in April 2018 reported that 70 to 80 percent of buildings were destroyed or damaged (Jan Egeland said nearly 70 percent). The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights counted at least 3,250 dead, including 1,130 civilians. In 2019 Amnesty International and Airwars concluded that coalition air and artillery strikes had killed more than 1,600 civilians; the coalition had acknowledged 159 (as of April 2019). Mines and booby traps continued to kill returning residents.