Raqqa, the capital of the Islamic State group, liberated by US-backed forces

Three days after the start of the 'final battle', US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces raised their flag at the stadium in Raqqa on Tuesday, October 17, declaring the city liberated. These forces had announced last Saturday that the 'final' battle for reclaiming Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of ISIS, was underway. According to Reuters, citing eyewitnesses and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Raqqa was completely freed from the Islamic State group on Tuesday. Reports also indicate that parts of the city are mined and the cleanup will take time. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights states that in the four months of fighting between the Syrian Kurdish forces and the Islamic State group, around 3,250 people have been killed, one-third of whom were civilians. The recapture of Raqqa, the main symbol of ISIS's caliphate, marks another shift in the destruction of this group and its reign of terror in the region. Over the past year, ISIS has lost many of its strategic positions in Iraq, including the city of Mosul, and in Syria. The Islamic State militants seized Raqqa in 2014, making it the first city fully controlled by this extremist group. Since then, the city has become a symbol of ISIS governance in the region, where people were executed in public for the slightest offenses; videos of these executions garnered significant global attention. Raqqa was also a destination for many foreign fighters joining ISIS, and operations were planned from this city for attacks in European cities. Meanwhile, Reuters reports on the advance of the Syrian army, supported by Hezbollah and Russian forces, in several areas of Deir ez-Zor. According to a media outlet affiliated with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syrian forces and their allies attacked 'several areas of Deir ez-Zor to clear them of ISIS' on Tuesday. The Syrian army has been fighting in this city since last month, and according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, nearly five neighborhoods are still under Islamic State control. On Saturday, Syrian government forces and their allies managed to reclaim the city of Mayadeen in Deir ez-Zor province. Deir ez-Zor is located on the western bank of the Euphrates River, near the Iraqi border, and the province is rich in oil resources.