Final ISIS fighters quelled in Raqqa stadium after four-month offensive

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The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have announced the full capture of the city of Raqqa, the central position of the Islamic State in northern Syria.

The US-backed SDF said it suppressed the last 200 to 300 ISIS fighters on Tuesday in fighting near and in the stadium.

Brig. Gen. Talal Silo said clearing operations were underway to remove land mines and search for sleeper cells. He added that a formal declaration will soon be made of the liberation of the liberation of the former “capital of terrorism”, held by the Islamic State since late 2013.

On Tuesday, the SDF captured the city hospital, which was also being used as an ISIS command center, lowering the last Islamic State flag in Raqqa. The advance left ISIS holdouts in the stadium, reportedly also ISIS’s city prison.

The US-led coalition said it has halted airstrikes from noon Sunday.

The coalition was more cautious about the situation. Its Baghdad-based spokesman, Col. Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State, said 90% of the city had been pacified but about 100 ISIS fighters still remained:

We are aware of the reports that ISIS has been defeated in Raqqa. However, clearance operations continue and we expect our Syrian Democratic Force partners to hit pockets of resistance as the final parts of the city is cleared.

The SDF began its advance through Raqqa Province early this year. Its forces entered Raqqa in early June but faced stiff resistance from ISIS, particularly after breaching the wall of the Old City in July.

Hundreds of civilians were killed during the operations, many of them by US airstrikes and shelling.

Top Regime General Killed By ISIS Mine

One of the Assad regime’s leading generals, Issam Zahreddine, was killed on Wednesday in Deir ez-Zor Province in eastern Syria, according to regime and Hezbollah media outlets.

Zahreddine’s convoy struck a land mine planted by the Islamic State as it tried to check a pro-Assad offensive. A regime military source said Zahreddine was involved in an operation on Saqr Island near Deir ez-Zor.

Distinguished by his long beard and flamboyant personality, Zahreddine became a regime icon for his leadership of forces that were besieged since 2014 by ISIS. The siege was broken last month by the pro-Assad advance that reached both Deir ez-Zor city and the nearby airbase.

Before his leading role in Deir ez-Zor, Zahreddine was involved in operations near Damascus — including alleged mass killings of civilians — and in Homs and Aleppo Provinces.

Activists: Pro-Assad Forces Executing Civilians in Deir ez-Zor Province

Opposition activists claim that pro-Assad forces are executing civilians after taking parts of Deir ez-Zor Province in eastern Syria from the Islamic State.

The Deir ez-Zor 24 media outlet said victims included two men, Ibrahim Khalaf Al-Hadrous and Ali Suleiman Dabbal, in n the town of Boqras on Tuesday. Regime forces also rounded up dozens of civilians in a house on charges of belonging to ISIS.

The opposition Syrian National Coalition called on the UN Security Council to “stop standing idly by while war crimes are being committed against civilians”.

Deir ez-Zor 24 has also claimed executions by regime forces and Iranian-led militias in Mayadin on the Iraqi border, taken from ISIS last week.