U.S.-led Coalition Drops Leaflets Over Islamic State Capital: “Freedom Will Come”
RAQQA, Syria, July 19 (UPI) — The U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State dropped leaflets over the group’s self-proclaimed capital in Syria, declaring the region would soon be free, according to activists.
After carrying out nine airstrikes against IS positions in Syria on Saturday, U.S. warplanes flying over Raqqa dropped the leaflets, which in Arabic say, “Freedom will come.”
The Guardian reported that an anti-IS group based out of the city, Raqqa is Being Silently Slaughtered, along with the Britian-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, describe the leaflets as having images of dead IS fighters and an upside-down IS flag.
The leaflets also feature images of Kurdish fighters known as People’s Protection Units, or the YPG, whom IS forces have been battling in the countryside north of Raqqa for months.
A YPG offensive backed by coalition air power last month saw the Kurds making several gains against IS forces, including when they captured a vital IS supply point for weapons and fighters at the Syria-Turkey border town of Tell Abiad.
The YPG in late June captured Ain Issa, a strategic town that lies 30 miles north of Raqqa and contains roads leading toward IS-controlled territories to the east, in Hassakeh province, and to the west, in Aleppo province.
IS forces were able to re-capture the town earlier this month, but clashes in the area — including daily coalition airstrikes against IS positions — have been ongoing.
A previous batch of leaflets dropped over Raqqa in March featured a cartoon image of IS recruits being fed into a meat grinder.
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