Raqqa

Washington is increasing its weapons stockpile to fend off any attempt by Russia and its allies to keep the battered nation together. A weaker, fragmented Syria governed by tribal leaders and local warlords will pose no threat to Washington or Tel Aviv’s regional ambitions. At least, that appears to be the thinking among US foreign policy elites.
The Trump administration’s plan to splinter Syria and establish a permanent garrison in the eastern part of the country won’t be stopped unless the American people express their opposition en masse.

Martin Jay
21st Century Wire

Damascus.
Andrew Korybko
21st Century Wire

Reports are circulating in the Middle East that over the last few days ISIS has started pulling back some of its fighters from Deir Ezzor to its ‘capital’ Raqqa, which is coming under increasing threat from the Kurdish militia and the advancing Syrian army.
This news comes after reports that a senior Syrian government official has recently visited Deir Ezzor to inspect the defences of the encircled town and presumably to give some encouragement to its population and defenders.

(ANTIWAR) US forces were conducting an airdrop of Kurdish fighters around the Syrian town of al-Mansour, near the ISIS capital city of Raqqa, and carrying out heavy airstrikes to cover the drop. Among the airstrikes, one hit a school in the town which was being used to house civilians from the surrounding area displaced by the fighting.

The destruction in Maysaloun school in #Tabqah after several ِairstrikes on it yesterday in Raqqa, Syria. (Photo: Twitter @Raqqa_SL)

(ANTIWAR) With the fighting against ISIS increasingly confined to densely populated cities like Mosul and Raqqa, the US air war against them continues to escalate precipitously, with record numbers of airstrikes in recent months, and the coalition dropping over 7,000 munitions on Iraq and Syria in just the last two months.

An aircraft lands after missions targeting the ISIS in Iraq from the deck of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush in the Persian Gulf.

(ANTIWAR) Defense officials familiar with the situation say that the US will soon deploy another 1,000 ground troops into Syria, with the deployments expected to be part of the buildup ahead of the invasion of the ISIS capital city of Raqqa.

(MPN) As the Syrian conflict has dragged on for the better part of six years, foreign troops have continually played a major role in the fighting and in the conflict’s escalation, causing some to comment that Syria’s so-called civil war is really a proxy war between competing geopolitical interests.