IS caliphate's end 'in sight' after Raqa fall
US President Donald Trump said Saturday a transition can soon begin to set conditions for lasting peace in Syria now that the end of the Islamic State "caliphate is in sight" with the fall of Raqa.
The United States and its allies will support diplomatic negotiations "that end the violence, allow refugees to return safely home, and yield a political transition that honors the will of the Syrian people," Trump said in a statement.
The declaration came four days after US-backed Kurdish-led forces recaptured Raqa.
Trump said the entire city has been liberated from IS control, which he said marked a "critical breakthrough" in the global struggle against the militant group.
"With the liberation of ISIS's capital and the vast majority of its territory, the end of the ISIS caliphate is in sight," Trump said, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State group.
"We will soon transition into a new phase in which we will support local security forces, de-escalate violence across Syria, and advance the conditions for lasting peace, so that the terrorists cannot return to threaten our collective security again."
A US-backed Arab-Kurd alliance announced yesterday it had retaken one of Syria's largest oilfields from the Islamic State group in Deir Ezzor.
Meanwhile, Russia accused the US-led coalition in Syria yesterday of wiping the city of Raqa "off the face of the earth" with carpet bombing in the same way the United States and Britain had bombed Germany's Dresden in 1945.
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