{"id":68144,"date":"2019-04-04T00:00:44","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T00:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/04\/04\/did-isis-militants-blow-themselves-up-in-a-city-that-was-liberated-nearly-2-years-ago\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:51:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:51:49","slug":"did-isis-militants-blow-themselves-up-in-a-city-that-was-liberated-nearly-2-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/04\/04\/did-isis-militants-blow-themselves-up-in-a-city-that-was-liberated-nearly-2-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Did ISIS militants blow themselves up in a city that was liberated nearly 2 years ago?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BEIRUT \u2014 Islamic State militants blew themselves up following clashes with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2019\/04\/02\/us-backed-kurdish-fighters-clash-with-isis-days-after-declaring-victory\/\" target=\"_blank\">U.S.-backed Syrian forces<\/a> in the Syrian city of Raqqa, which was liberated from the extremists nearly two years ago, a war monitor said Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S-backed Syrian Democratic Forces first confirmed then denied the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/03\/23\/isis-loses-all-territory-but-its-shadowy-leader-still-at-large\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"215\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635532150723826702-mideast-islamic-state-weigjpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">ISIS loses all territory, but its shadowy leader still at large<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Islamic State group has lost all the territory it once controlled in Iraq and Syria, but its shadowy leader and self-proclaimed \u201ccaliph\u201d is still at large.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The conflicting reports could not be immediately reconciled, and reflected the precarious security situation in the city, which the militants once called their capital, and which remains plagued with lawlessness despite efforts to rebuild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali called the initial news a &#8220;misunderstanding.&#8221; Bali said the explosion was caused by a land mine that wounded people. Another activist group, Raqqa Being Slaughtered Silently, said a land mine that went off in the western part of Raqqa killed two people.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/02\/06\/cornered-in-syria-isis-lays-groundwork-for-a-new-insurgency\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"181\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP19037509132062.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Cornered in Syria, ISIS lays groundwork for a new insurgency<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Islamic State gunmen came out of hiding in the middle of the night and set up a checkpoint on a rural road in eastern Syria. For several hours, they stopped those passing and searched through their mobile phones to check their allegiances, until they vanished again into the desert.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Rami Abdurrahman, head of Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said militants attacked a headquarters for the SDF in Raqqa city late Tuesday and early Wednesday, clashing with forces before blowing themselves up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Abdurrahman said the Observatory said the explosions caused an undetermined number of casualties among the Syrian forces. He shared pictures of the killed militants, including one with a gutted belly.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2019\/03\/27\/7-us-backed-kurdish-fighters-killed-in-isis-attack-in-manbij\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4689924.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">7 US-backed Kurdish fighters killed in ISIS attack in Manbij<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for an attack on a checkpoint of U.S.-backed forces in the northern Syrian town on Manbij that killed seven fighters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Raqqa has been rife with lawlessness since it was liberated from the militants in October 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Its liberation was a major blow to the militants. The SDF and the U.S.-led coalition went on to fight the militants in rest of Syria, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2019\/03\/23\/us-allied-syrian-force-declares-victory-over-islamic-state\/\" target=_blank>declaring military victory<\/a> against ISIS last month. But Syria and Iraq remain infested with sleeper cells.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Islamic State militants blew themselves up following clashes with the U.S.-backed Syrian forces in the Syrian city of Raqqa, which was liberated from the extremists nearly two years ago, a war monitor said Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":104048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":13,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,13,16,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1344],"class_list":["post-68144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"AOOUWIJYPBCRNPZFPI5JNDHY3I","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2019\/04\/03\/did-isis-militants-blow-themselves-up-in-a-city-that-was-liberated-nearly-2-years-ago\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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