Syrian Democratic Forces resume advance in ISIS strongholds in Raqqa

Three persons have been killed during the bombardment of the International Coalition against the strongholds of ISIS extremist group in the surrounding areas of the Syrian city of Raqqa. Clashes erupted between Syrian Democratic Forces with the extremist militants in the framework of the forces advance in the areas controlled by the extremist group.
Clashes between the two sides continued in the south-western area of Raqqa’s countryside, where the Syrian Democratic Forces managed to advance and control the village of Al-Farqa in the area, while the missile attacks continued by the forces of Euphrates Operations on the areas controlled by the ISIS extremist group in the city of Raqqa.
The SDF has pushed Islamic State from swathes of northern Syria  over the past 18 months. Turkey-backed Syrian rebels have also taken territory from it and the Syrian army has this year advanced rapidly against it in desert areas.
The U.S.-backed coalition has supported SDF advances against the jihadist group throughout the Raqqa campaign with artillery and air strikes, including some against Islamic State leaders. This month, the coalition said its air strikes had killed Turki Binali, a Bahraini cleric who was the group's top religious authority and the most senior known Gulf Arab in Islamic State.
A U.S. fighter plane on Sunday shot down a Syrian warplane in response to an attack on U.S.-backed rebel forces fighting the Islamic State.
It was the first time an American plane shot down a Syrian aircraft and raised concerns that the conflict could escalate and draw foreign powers further into an already complex war.
The plane was shot down after pro-Syrian forces attacked elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed alliance of local militias opposed to the Islamic State, the U.S. military said in a statement.
The Syrian forces wounded a number of SDF troops and drove the U.S.-backed troops out of a small town south of Tabqah, a strategic area west of Raqqa, the defacto capital of the Islamic State. The Syrian Democratic Forces are engaged in a major offensive to drive the militants from Raqqa.
Coalition aircraft conducted a “show of force,” which usually means aircraft flying low and fast or strafing near enemy forces, in an effort to scare off the pro-Assad troops. The U.S.-led coalition also contacted their Russian counterparts in an effort to warn the pro-Assad forces to refrain from attacking the Syrian Democratic Forces.
The Syrians appeared to ignore the request and a Syrian SU-22 dropped bombs on the SDF fighters. The Syrian plane was immediately shot down by a U.S. F/A-18E Super Hornet. The U.S. military has said it does not want to engage in a conflict with the Assad regime and is focused on defeating the Islamic State. But the U.S. military said it would defend U.S.-backed forces when necessary.
“The coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend coalition or partner forces from any threat,” the U.S. military said in a statement. Iran and Russia are supporting the Assad regime and has deployed forces in Syria.
The U.S. military has several hundred advisers operating with Syrian Democratic Forces, which it is also supplying the organization with weapons and equipment.
As territory controlled by the Islamic State has shrunk the risks of conflicts between an array of forces operating in the country, including Russia and Iran, have increased. The forces are converging in a shrinking area as the Islamic State is pushed out of its strongholds. In recent weeks U.S. aircraft have launched several strikes on pro-Assad militias operating in southern Syria.
Western-backed Syrian rebels holding a strategic swathe of the desert southeast stretching to the Iraqi border said they came under major attack on Tuesday from government forces and allied Iranian-backed militias backed by Russian air power.
They said hundreds of troops with dozens of armored vehicles including tanks had surged into the Bir Qassab area some 75 km (45 miles) southeast of Damascus towards the Badia region that skirts the borders with Jordan and Iraq.
Bir Qassab straddles the route to the eastern suburbs of Damascus, near the Dumeir air base, and is a key rebel supply line towards areas they control further southeast.
Bir Qassab fell to Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels after it was abandoned a few months ago by Islamic State (IS) militants beating an eastward retreat to reinforce their urban bastion, Raqqa, against a U.S.-backed coalition offensive, and oil rich Deir al Zor province, which borders Iraq.
Bir Qassab, a rugged, desolate area, was a former stronghold that had given Islamic State a springboard for attacks on state-controlled territory just to the east of Damascus and a base for maintaining their grip on large swathes of the Badia region.
“The (Syrian) regime and militia ground attack started this dawn and our forces are holding on to their positions,” said Saad al Haj, spokesman for Osoud al Sharqiya, one of the largest rebel groups operating in the area.
“With (the help of) intensive Russian bombing they are trying to advance but we are repelling them,” al-Haj added.
President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, aided by Iranian-backed militias, have engaged in a race with FSA rebels in recent weeks to seize areas in the southeastern desert vacated by retreating Islamic State insurgents.
“Backed by Iran, Iraqi Shi’ite groups are spreading across the Badia,” said Abu Yaqoub, a commander in the Ahmed Abdo Martyrs Brigade, an FSA rebel group whose fighters were involved in the battles.
The army and Russian planes had been waging a relentless bombing campaign on Western-vetted rebel hideouts in the region and making steady gains, taking over several areas including the strategic Tal Dakwa mountain range, northeast of Bir Qassab.