Operation Raqqa (Syria) Begins - November 7, 2016

The Syrian coalition is continuing at a decent pace towards Raqqa and Der Ezzoir city. Some heavy clashes have yielded positive gains for them, with the liberation of 15 villages going into the oil rich areas of rural Raqqa. Perhaps there is still a chance for them to get some skin in the Raqqa city front after all??

AMN

On June 12, SAA’s elite Tiger Forces division backed by Russian Air Force made a breakthrough advance from Maskanah Plains to the south, towards the aforementioned road.

More than 15 villages were cleared of IS jihadists as a result of this successful assault.
Hezbollah military correspondents embedded with the Tiger Forces published a video footage taken during the operation

google translation
The Syrian army and allies continue to advance in the Badia region, where many important points have been controlled and liberated from the terrorist "Da'ash" elements.
Syrian army units controlled the area and triangle of Ark and the third station and surrounding hills east of Palmyra.

ISIS arms & SVBIED manufacturing workshop seized by SDF in Raqqa city.
YAT (YPG SF) display TNT that was captured from ISIS in Raqqa city.
3 ISIS terrorists were captured in connection with the operation.

ISIS drones are attacking U.S. troops and disrupting airstrikes in Raqqa
The Pentagon, in response, is looking to send additional anti-drone equipment and troops into Syria, according to one official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss planning. The off-the-shelf drones, sometimes used in swarms by the extremist group, are often rigged to drop small 40mm grenade-sized munitions with a relatively high degree of accuracy. The attacks, according to the fighter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to the media, have also hindered SDF advances. He said that the Islamic State will wait for the SDF to send up its own drone before deploying an aircraft loaded with explosives so that those on the ground think a friendly drone is overhead.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Sadly once again it is the civilian population that is paying a high price at the hands of coalition airstrikes.

Intensified coalition air strikes have killed at least 300 civilians in the Syrian northern city of Raqqa since March, as U.S.-backed forces close in on the stronghold of Islamic State forces, U.N. war crimes investigators said on Wednesday.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group of Kurdish and Arab militias supported by a U.S.-led coalition, began to attack Raqqa a week ago to take it from the jihadists. The SDF, supported by heavy coalition air strikes, have taken territory to the west, east and north of the city.
www.reuters.com...

Looks like the Syrian army has really got some momentum going into Raqqa. This was actually yesterday, today's progress is in the previous post.

Published on Jun 13, 2017

Syrian MoD | 09/13.06.2017 | Units of the Syrian army conducted large-scale counter-terrorist operation in the southeast of Aleppo and to west of Raqqa province, taking control of 37 towns, villages and plantations.
Killed more than 500 terrorists, hundreds others injured; destroyed 6 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, shot down 3 drones equipped with bombs.

Southfront summarizes in this video the gains of today in Raqqa and Palmyra. Its mostly the same as I already added in the previous post, but easier if you don't want to read too much.

This is a longer video with additional content as one provided in previous post.

ISIS fights with SDF forces in Raqqa.
Coalition air strikes in Raqqa, as well as the aftermath of collateral damage on civilians. Graphic content warning!
SDF fighters pose for pictures and scout the street below from a rooftop inside Raqqa.
Most recent reporting from a regional or domestic source on the ground in Raqqa city.
ISIS uses a drone to drop a 40mm shell on an armored bulldozer. The vehicle looks in order, but given the location of that hit, I don't believe that driver fared too well.
A captured SDF fighter is laying on a table in ISIS custody. Hopefully he will find a way to escape or be rescued.

SDF Clashes with ISIS in Hattin neighborhood after recently liberating Al-Battani

More clashes from those neighborhoods.

Shot down their 6th ISIS drone dropping 40mm grenades from above. Using DJI phantoms. Where the hell did tey hit it though, those were .30 cal rounds. It should be shredded.

IS up-armored Mitsubishi 4x4 SVBIED and up-armored HMMWV captured by loyalists in push into Raqqah province

Iran fires long range ballistic missiles at Islamic State in eastern Syria

originally posted by: worldstarcountry
a reply to: allsee4eye

And Drone footage of the target hit.

10:41 PM - 19 Jun 2017
More footage from the #SDF operation that liberated the al-Bayatra neighborhood of #Raqqa from #ISIS. #YPG #YPJ #TwitterKurds

1:28 PM - 18 Jun 2017
Footage of #SDF snipers targeting #ISIS jihadists in #Raqqa. #WrathOfEuphrates #YPG #YPJ @CENTCOMArabic

Just adding previously reported incident from another thread for the sake of completeness of recent events.
F-18 Operating under CJTOIR Shoots down Syrian Su-22 Near Raqqa

Lots of action East of Palmyra from the Syrian army as it continues to roll on towards Lifting the siege at Der ez-zoir, south East of Raqqa. Some of them will no doubt bead North towards Raqqa as well. Tanks, tacticals with big guns, and even Jeep mounted MLRS see some action in this video as well as the infantry.

I found a YPJ sniper engaging some daesh targets in Raqqa. I could be wrong, but it sure looks like one of our guys was there too.

11:16 AM - 20 Jun 2017
whats sniper wars in #Raqqa Kurdish female fighter clashes with #ISIS sniper #TwitterKurds #Sniper

and cases of Polio have been breaking out according to the WHO.

BBC
Seventeen children have been paralysed by polio following an outbreak of the disease in Syria that the World Health Organization says is "very serious".

a reply to: worldstarcountry

50 BMG looks like, no messing around there.

a reply to: D8Tee
Definitely not.
Hey thanks for stopping by! Feel free to post ANYTHING related to the battle in Raqqa or anywhere East of Palmyra from Tanf to Der Ezzoir . Even if you are reporting from your own thread, its great to cross post to get a complete picture.

I am going to be adding images of tanf border crossing sat images as well as the new forward operating bases we have been popping up in the area at some point later.

I just wish I could find anything on twitter from the area, but that would require some leaking from people on the ground. The best I got was when they initially crossed into Tanf from Jordan last month and were clearing an area from their HUMVEES while FSA guy was recording it talking his bullsnap.

One of the dudes was getting ready to deploy a javelin too!! But either the video stopped before he did, or he decided it was not necessary.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

I've been following both this thread and the Mosul thread, excellent work worldstar!

a reply to: D8Tee
Appreciate it bro!
Here is the current situation map on the ground, just got added like 30 minutes ago. And finally, they added the names in English of the neighborhoods!! Makes it a bit easier to understand where some of these engagements are occurring.

Full Size

U.S. Central Command‏Verified account @CENTCOM 18h18 hours ago

U.S. Central Command Retweeted Inherent Resolve

.@CJTFOIR Strike Update: Near #Raqqah, 14 strikes engaged 14 #ISIS tactical units and destroyed 16 fighting positions #Syria

a reply to: worldstarcountry

U.S. Marines June 21, 2017 12:27 PM
Marines have been conducting 24-hour fire support for the Syrian Democratic Forces as part of CJTF-OIR to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

I hope the Saudi's in Yemen lose.....the Houthi's aren't ISIS or Al-Qaeda, and aren't Wahabi fanatics either.

a reply to: LightAssassin
This is true. Now they are not innocent, I mean really nobody is in war. But, they rose to power out of the people's frustration with the previous KSA puppet. Eventually they will be free, but that depends on how Syria works out. Yemen is the main proxy battleground between Iran and KSA. If somehow the US can be pushed out of the at-Tanf border crossing returning control of the checkpoint to Syria, the land route between Hezbollah and Iran will be open.

Once that happens, they would likely travel to Iran, and then maybe take ships to the Yemen? Im just speculating here. I would prefer our forces withdraw from Tanf willingly out of good will to avoid bloodshed, but historically it is unlikely.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Saudi / US / Israel will not back out of Yemen. Can't have the Middle east seeing a successful, true, coup de'tat from people power. Any independence or freedom must be crushed.

It is the same reason Saudi / Israel / Trump and GCC coming down so hard on Qatar. Correct me if I am wrong but isn't Qatar one of the, if not the most, progressive, forward thinking, democratic muslim country in the middle east?

Although, there is the slave labor thing re World Cup....

I love Australia.

CBS News correspondent Holly Williams and her team are the first U.S. television crew to report from Raqqa City

Rojava‏ @AzadiRojava
Nice pic of US forces & YPG fighters side by side & smiling.

Updated situation map as of June 26.

We got some interesting updates here. First two are sniper combat between YPG and ISIS.

Published on Jun 27, 2017

Description of what's happening in the video below.

Don't judge people by their playlists

For days we couldnt establish a proper sniper position in Raqqa due to the fact that most of the buildings we were taking were 1/2 floors high and not giving proper city's coverage. There were roofs but position there was too exposed to those goddamned ISIS drones carrying granades under them.

This is the first building making establishing a sniper's nest possible. My choice for the day was a M93 "Black Arrow" high caliber rifle with APC and explosive round with it. As some people will notice the scope mounted on it doesnt have the shock resistant characteristics required for that rifle, but you gotta work with what you have.

I arrived at the destination around 5 30 AM and took a quick look around, then brought the gear to the fireing position I used the day before. Set the scope to the place the targets (VBIEDS) will most likely be coming from (beginning of the main road) distance shown on the rangefinder was 1255 meters and 1315 on the high apartment building where possible ISIS sniper positions would be.

Then for hours there would be nothing except the balcony door opening to the side on the 3rd floor. I fired an APC through the building's wall. No idea if I got something, but the door never opened again...
Then I would fire at possible sniper positions, holes in walls made in buildings in front of me.

Then again, I would be going crazy from staring through the wall for 9h straight.

Then, around 4 30 PM, things would get interesting. Daesh started an assault on our position, providing covering fire for car bombs they were sending towards us.

As you can see in the video I encountered bolt and stock problem at the worst possible moment (Yes I should'vd had a round in a chamber and yes I should've fire without the stock). When I finally got it right, I couldnt get a clear shot, so I tried two different positions. But still no good. The car passed our building and I was waiting for the next one to come. Sometimes they come in pairs.

Then you can see me looking from the window at the explosion caused by the car that we let pass. 9 kurdish fighters died there...

ISIS kept attacking our building and my position was compromised as shown on the video, we were most likely hit by an RPG.

(Not on the video) Then they send another car that kurds managed to stop using RPGs and machine guns. After 5 min of the car being stuck on the tree in the middle of the main road, american artillery or airstrike finished the job by hiting it directly with dead on precission and causing the explosives to detonate.

After that it was already around 7 PM when Daesh attacked our position again. At that time I was out of bullets for the sniper rifle ( very hard to get by) so there was time to switch to AK.

You might notice that Im making a mistake of not putting my plate carrier or any other gear on, but after 12 hours of staring through the hole, you just dont think straight anymore or to be honest, care.

I couldnt see my enemy, 99% of the time we dont. So we kept shooting at the most likely positions they would be, and again these are the shooting holes made in homes in front of us. I used the same tactics in the battle of Tabqa youtu.be... you might critize this, but it really only thing you can do. If you stop covering the battlefield with fire, they immidietely send the suicide bombers towarda you. And you dont.want.that.

Last footage is taken around 8 30 PM when Daesh fighters withdrawned to the high apartment building shown there.

Kurds called an artillery on them, which were pouding them for good 30 minutes.

Those buildings are not there anymore.

The video is a big cut due to opsec and fact that I cannot make some things public.

This young YPJ sniper nearly lost the top of her head in a sniper battle. Enemy landed a hit aout only two inches above her. Super duper lucky as it could have been something as simple as a gust of wind that threw the round off on the way to her. I hope she is counting her blessings but takes it in stride and remains in good spirits. Probably in shock to tell the truth.