Thousands of militants of I SIS fighting for survival

A senior US official said that nearly 2 thousand militants of the extremist group, the Islamic State (IS), are fighting for survival in the town of Raqqa in Syria, which is their last base in the northern part of this country.

The United States' special envoy for the international coalition fighting against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Brett McGourk, said the Arab-Kurdish coalition, led by the United States, has received nearly 45 per cent of this city from militants and plans to move on.

Divisions, the Syrian Human Rights Observatory, headquartered in London, which has observers on the ground in Syria, has said last night that Syria's government forces have taken the city of Al-Sukhana from the Islamic State militants.

This settlement was the last major city in the province of Homs, in which the Syrian Government Army took over from the warriors of the extremist group, the Islamic State, as the military continues with its efforts to remove militants from the eastern regions of Syria.

The two developments are further signals for reducing the amount of territory of militants who had occupied the town of Raqqa, along with other broad spaces in Iraq and Syria, by government forces in 2014, and had declared “califatin” Islamic.

The offensives by forces backed by the United States over the past few months have substantially reduced the territory of the Islamic State and led to the liberation of Mosul, since the extremist group had been declared the capital in Iraq.

Brett McGourk said that extremists lost 58 percent of their territory in Syria, which they kept at the height of their penetrate, and 78 percent of their territory in Iraq.

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), composed of Kurdish and Arab fighters supported by American forces from November, have been surrounding Raqa and advancing to this city. The offensive for taking control of Raqqa was launched on June 6th, broadcasting the REL.

“Today in Raqqa, the Islamic State is fighting for each last block ... and struggling to survive”, McGurk told reporters and added that “we appreciate there are nearly 2 thousand ISIS fighters left in Raqqa”.

The special American envoy, McGurk, said the coalition has established a database of approximately 19 thousand names of Islamic State fighters, using mobile phones, address records and other documents, which were taken during the fighting.

This information is being exchanged with the international police agency, Interpol, McGourk said.

According to data released on July 16th by the Syrian Human Rights Observatory, more than 330 thousand people have been killed by six - year civil war in Syria, including 99,617 civilians.

The United States and Turkey support various groups, fighting against Syria President Bashar al-Assad's government.

President Assad, on the other hand, is supported by Russia and Iran.