The Assault On Raqqa, the Daesh [ISIS] Capital

Are a wily bunch of Kurdish and Syrian guerillas fighters about to storm the gates of the city of the damned: Raqqa, Syria – The Daesh capital?

If they are, then hell yeah. I’m only mad that I’m not there, strapped up with an AKM, a bunch of improvised charges, and fueled with enough Tiger Energy Drinks to make me the embodiment of chaos. However, the attack on the capital is not scheduled at this time – despite all the hype and hoopla.

On the bold, yet not happening maneuver, Colonel Steve Warren, the Baghdad spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve said,

They’re moving on Raqqa now.

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced via Twitter,

With the participation of all [Syrian Democratic Forces] units, we start this operation to liberate northern [Raqqa] the group said. [Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve] forces will accompany [Syrian Democratic Forces] during the campaign.

NBC also went Sheeple, and just who are these mysterious idiot defense officials?

A U.S. defense official told NBC News that Kurdish and Arab forces were still between 30 and 40 miles north of Raqqa, and just beginning to move toward the city.

Stars and Stripes joined the lemmings and reported,

Several thousand fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces, the umbrella group that also includes fighters from the Syrian Arab Coalition and the Kurdish People’s Protection Forces, or YPG, are massed about 30 to 40 miles north of Raqqa, two senior defense officials told Stars and Stripes on the condition that they not be named.

There is also a lot of footage of trucks driving down the road and armored vehicles moving on and off of transport trucks.

Although, all of the vehicle staging areas are friendly side, and when not translated by a third-party; the reports state that the guerilla forces are moving into the Northern Raqqa Region.

Adding fuel the fire, a rehashed report from the 20th of a Coalition Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CTJF-OIR,) Psychological Operations leaflet drop over Raqqa, which encouraged the inhabitants of the city to flee.

The time you have been waiting for has come, the time to leave Raqqa.

This warning has nothing to do with an inbound ground assault, but more to the point that CTJF-OIR is bombing the hell out of the place. 

Reports are sketchy and contradictory, but the truth is out there. It was simply lost in translation, and the fight is moving towards Raqqa, Syria – the Daesh capital – that is, the Raqqa Region, and specifically, the Northern Raqqa Region. The main assault is still to come. 

This is the primary problem with Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), especially when it is translated from another language and distributed via social media – none of it is truth until it is confirmed and confirmed again. Take it all with a grain of salt. 

Combat is underway, and the YPG has reported an increase of desertion and dereliction of duty,

The Kurdish-led Self Administration in Al-Hasakah province arrested dozens of young men charged with evading mandatory military service in pre-dawn raids on Monday, while three Kurds currently avoiding the draft told Syria Direct on Tuesday that upcoming battles, including for Raqqa, aren’t their fight.

In Syria, action against Daesh was initiated by a wily band of guerilla groups, and a Triple-Axes movement to contact to seize Daesh territory is going down. The campaign to seize land from Daesh in the Northern Raqqa Region is also directly supported by CTJF-OIR air support.

The offensive was launched two days after an unannounced visit to Syria by Army General Joseph Votel, who conferred with the 200 U.S. military advisers on the ground and regional guerilla commands prior to this operation.

CTJF-OIR is directly in support of this guerilla-led, Syrian offensive against Daesh in the Norther Raqqa Region. The ground force, under SDF and YPG Command, has sent forth approximately 25,000 Kurdish and Syrian guerilla fighters.

The objective of the operation is to seize key terrain and restrict Daesh maneuver capabilities as the noose around the neck of Daesh is closing. Thus far, the operation has been a success and has not over-extended it’s supply lines, maneuver support, or heavy weapons capabilities.

The action is thus far reporting to have liberated the following objectives: Abu Kabra, Fatsah, Hesha, Tal Samen, the Tishring Dam, and Qirtaca. -Well done.

Combat has come to a grind around the town of Ayn Issa, where the guerilla task force has faced fortified Daesh positions. SDF sources confirm that airstrikes on Daesh positions near and in Ayn Issa are loosening Daesh’s hold. CTJF-OIR air support has remained in effect across the entire spectrum of this operation.

The area of operations for the main body of the attack, along it’s most Souther axis, is 4km long, and 15km wide, for a sliding total area of, 50-60km While the entire operational maneuver area encompasses the Southern movement of elements from Kobane in the West to Sinjar in the East. Units are converging in disbursed and task-oriented convoys into the Northern Raqqa Region. There is a designed force overlap, coupled with air multipliers, which should force gains and increase the odds of operational success to effectively cut-off Daesh from any movement North of Raqqa.

The short-term objective of this operation is to move the front-line in this region, which has barely moved since 2013. Thus, further containing Daesh, and moving friendly forces closer to the fight –  and into the position for the actual Raqqa offensive. Right now the guerilla force and airstrikes are tearing apart the defensive lines of Daesh; destroying and overrunning Daesh field fortifications and seized structures, breaching minefields, and disabling IEDs to take ownership of the land.

The long-term objective – is Raqqa.

The possibility of such a maneuver has been possible for some time. In fact, many organizations such as the YPG/YPJ/PKK – Communists Trinity have been storing their armor for a rainy day. That is, a day the Americans would show up to shoulder the burden. In the Trinity’s area of operations, in the PKK-dominated Kurdish Zagros Mountains, and by 2014 numbers, approximately 600 pieces of armor has been laying in wait for the right moment. They may have finally decided to bring the armor down from the mountains . . . Or maybe it just took that long to get it our of storage.

And more likely the commanders of the Communists Trinity have seen the writing on the wall and realize that they must strike now and claim the battlespace. The end of  Daesh as it is – is drawing to a close; soon Daesh will be an ideological movement of scattered terrorists until it eventually fizzles out in a few decades. A dark, but realistic outlook, but on the bright side, their days of being land owners are soon to be over.

Shortly and with any luck, people will stop complimenting these ass clowns by recognizing them as the Islamic State. That’s a compliment, which you are providing them with, a geographical recognition as if they were are a real nation and not a nest of the worst that humanity has to offer. Just call them Daesh, it’s not a compliment.

Albeit, if the Communist Trinity does intend to take and hold their idealized Communist fantasyland, Rojava. They better be quick about it. Once and if they can seize Raqqa, and then expand across the malleable borders of Rojava, they will need to gear up for the counter-attack, and it won’t be from Daesh. It will come from the Syrian Assad Army (SAA,) as in the nation which still technically has national sovereignty over Raqqa.

I know in a current popularity contest and the battle of the lesser evil, people love to jump in and support of the YPG and YPJ, yet often omit their PKK hierarchy. The Communist Trinity has its own agenda and is not simply in this to fight Daesh. They want their own Communist Kurdistan, and they care nothing for the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). In fact, they refer to the KRG and the Peshmerga as Daesh. You’re with them, or you’re against them.

Nonetheless, people still walk around wearing Che Guevara apparel, and he was nothing more than a murderous bandit. You can believe what you want to, but replacing one bad thing for a different bad thing it not a solution.

Adding to the confusion of this unique geopolitical region, which is rich in organizational loyalties and strife, come the aforementioned translation and social media complications.

Below is a map, the yellow region represents the joint area command of the YPG/YPJ/PKK (Communist Trinty), Syrian Defense Forces (SDF), Kurdish-Arab, Christian and Turkmen militias, as well as an assortment of other aligned guerilla and tribal organizations. The map appears to suggest a direct strike on Raqqa, but it does not. That’s just some bad Photoshop skills. Even so, the map is correct in that there is a Northern Raqqa Regional Offensive, and the black and white stripes on the map represent this in the early stages of the battle, and from Tuesday morning. The red lines to Raqqa represent the distance to the enemy and the long term objective.

Also, that map is not displaying the entire operation. A three-pronged attack was launched on Tuesday, with the objective of seizing land in the Northern Raqqa Region in support of on-going operations to the defeat of Daesh. The operation is being spearheaded by the SDF and the YPG with CTJF-OIR air multiplies.

Despite the noise and the hype; we do know that at least one Chinese national is hanging around the alleged column. This actually makes more sense than an American with the YPG, at least this guy is a Communist.

Featured image courtesy of al alam