THE battle to liberate the Syrian city of Raqqa, the centre of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's so-called caliphate, will begin within weeks, the Defence Secretary said yesterday (Wednesday).
The international coalition, which includes Britain, hopes that a two-pronged attack on Isil's largest strongholds in Syria and Iraq will put pressure on the terror group and weaken its defences.
Speaking 10 days into the offensive to retake the city of Mosul, an Isil stronghold in Iraq, Michael Fallon said: "We hope a similar operation will begin towards Raqqa in the next few weeks."
Ash Carter, the US defence secretary, said the idea of simultaneous operations "has been part of our planning for quite a while" and that they were confident of being able to resource both.
Both the US and Britain have special forces training and supporting Syrian opposition fighters.
An offensive on Raqqa is likely to be far more complicated than the assault on Mosul because, unlike in Iraq, the coalition does not have a strong ally on the ground in Syria.
They will instead probably have to rely on a band of Kurdish fighters, including the People's Protection Units (YPG), as well as moderate Syrian rebel groups. However, Turkey wants to play a role and the Russians are also insisting that the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime must be involved.
In Iraq, troops have been advancing on Mosul from the south, east and north after an offensive began on Oct 17 to retake the last major Iraqi city under Isil control.
The assault, backed by air and ground support from the US-led coalition, has been making steady progress but has met with snipers, car bombs and suicide attacks.
Residents inside Mosul say the some 6,000 remaining jihadists have booby-trapped all bridges and roads out of the city. Some reported that jihadists have begun shaving their beards and wearing civilian clothes in attempts to evade Iraqi forces, which are now just three miles from the city limits.
"Isil has no intentions to leave the city, and will be fighting to their last breath," one resident said. "Isil is hiding among the innocent civilians."
Civilians still inside Mosul said that Isil fighters are warning that they will kill anyone caught trying to escape.
"They have also been telling people in the mosques that the Iraqi forces only want to kill the Mosulis and to enslave their women. They are trying to brainwash people into thinking they are the better option that the army," he said.
The loss of Mosul - where Isil leaders declared their "caliphate" in the summer of 2014 - would leave Raqqa the last major city still under the group's control.