Kurds Now Only 30 Miles From Caliphate Capital

Kurdish fighters in Syria known as the Popular Protection Units (YPG) and Syrian rebel fighters have continued to be successful in taking back areas captured by the Islamic State. Last week, Kurdish fighters captured the town of Tal Abyad, which lies on the Turkish border. As mentioned in Free Fire, Tal Abyad was primarily used by IS for shipping oil from Islamic State territory into Turkey. It was also used to transport foreign fighters into IS-controlled regions.

Monday evening, YPG fighters also captured a military base known as “Brigade 93”. Reportedly, this base was the IS’s first line of defense north of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State’s declared caliphate. It’s estimated that 26 IS militants were killed in the attack.

In the hours following the capture of Brigade 93, YPG and allied Syrian rebel fighters were also able to secure the town of Ayn Issa (Ein Issa/Ain Issa) early Tuesday morning. They were assisted by US-led coalition air strikes.

After the capture of Brigade 93 and the town of Ayn Issa, the YPG are now approximately only 30 miles out from Raqqa. There does not seem to be much discussion yet as to whether or not YGP and Syrian rebel fighters will continue their offensive to Raqqa. One could logically assume they will at some point, seeing as it is the caliphate’s capital and the largest IS stronghold.

Also, according to Rami Abdul Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “[the] Islamic State’s defensive lines have now been pushed back to the outskirts of Raqqa city because the area between Raqqa and Ain Issa is militarily weak and they have no fortifications”.

However, attacking Raqqa will prove to be no small task, and neither Kurdish fighters nor Syrian rebels have announced a plan for a future attack. Redur Khali, a YPG spokesman, has said that, “the next task is to enforce and protect these areas [Ayn Issa and nearby villages] because they know that the IS will strike back”.

Based on Rahman’s statement, the near future could prove to be strategically optimal for Kurdish and Syrian rebel fighters to penetrate Raqqa and actually have a good chance of overtaking the caliphate capital. But as Nawaf Khali, head of the Germany-based Kurdish Center for Studies, indicates, “Raqqa is a vast area and attacking it will need a great deal of coordination with other groups and the international alliance”.

At the moment, there does not seem to be a plan of attack for Raqqa in the docket. However, if and when that plan comes from the YPG and Syrian rebel fighters, the international community must be prepared to be supportive. As previously discussed on Free Fire, the Senate recently rejected Amendment 1549 to directly arm Kurdish fighting forces. This rejection does not seem to be the sort of preparation needed for a future, large-scale attack on Raqqa.

The US needs to rethink its position in future discussions regarding battling the Islamic State. The Kurdish fighting forces have clearly achieved significant success in combatting IS militants and taking back regions the Islamic State has captured. The decision in front of the US must no longer revolve around which plan of action to take. The decision must be to support the plan of action already in place.