![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP757809173875.jpg.jpg\")
The battles have been ongoing for weeks in Raqqa, which ISIS took over in 2014. SDF fighters and Syrian government forces are also marching in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, the last stronghold for ISIS in eastern Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Backed by Russian airstrikes, Syrian troops and their allies have been pushing along the western bank of the Euphrates River while SDF fighters are moving along the eastern bank. There have been concerns about a clash between the U.S.-backed fighters and President Bashar Assad\u2019s forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Turkey\u2019s military said on Monday that Turkish troops moved into Syria\u2019s northwestern Idlib province the previous day as part of an operation to enforce a \u201cde-escalation\u201d zone that was internationally agreed earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Turkish troops crossed into Syrian territory on Sunday to begin \u201creconnaissance activities\u201d in Idlib, a statement from Ankara said. It did not say how many troops were involved, but added that the force would create \u201cobservation points\u201d in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also Sunday, Turkish forces shelled along the border parts of an area dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would not allow a \u201cterror corridor\u201d by Kurdish militia aiming to link its territories from eastern Syria to the Mediterranean, amid reports that the Turkish deployment could also serve to curb possible territorial gains by the U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ankara sees the Syrian Kurdish forces as an extension of its own minority Kurdish insurgency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Idlib operation is the second-largest Turkish troop deployment in to neighboring Syria. Last year, Turkey sent troops and tanks to back opposition forces clear a strip along its border from Islamic State militants and prevent U.S.-backed Kurdish militants from making territorial gains. Some 70 Turkish soldiers were killed in the operation named Euphrates Shield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also in Idlib, al-Qaida-linked fighters of the Levant Liberation Committee captured the village of Armanaz after clashes with two insurgent groups, Ahrar al-Sham and Faylaq al-Sham, which are close to Turkey, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media. Armanaz had been a stronghold of Ahrar al-Sham and witnessed protests against al-Qaida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the nearby province of Hama, ISIS said in a statement that its fighters attacked and captured 10 villages from the Levant Liberation Committees. The Observatory said that ISIS earlier captured 16 villages from al-Qaida but later lost six in a counterattack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The area of fighting between the two rival militant groups is among the last positions controlled by ISIS in central Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" U.S.-backed fighters in northern Syria are preparing for a final offensive on neighborhoods still held by the Islamic State group in the city of Raqqa, a spokesman for the group said Monday. A U.S. official affirmed that the battle for Raqqa is now approaching its last phase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2775,"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":10,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"4":{"categories":["flashpoints","pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"},"5":{"categories":["flashpoints","pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"},"6":{"categories":["flashpoints","pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"},"7":{"categories":["flashpoints","pentagon-congress","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"flashpoints"}}},"categories":[10,15,86],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1280],"class_list":["post-5503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"SU77LSKAHNERHJQP7GAYCEJ4G4","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2017\/10\/09\/us-backed-syrian-fighters-preparing-for-final-push-in-raqqa\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AP17282548829290.jpg.jpg\")