Defense secretary: U.S. and allies to start Raqqa offensive within weeks

With the battle for Mosul still underway in Iraq, the U.S. and allies are already looking ahead to their next big fight: taking control of Raqqa, Syria, from the Islamic State.

Raqqa is the terrorist group's de facto capital, and there is a sense of "urgency" in capturing the town, said Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the U.S. commander in Iraq and Syria. "Intelligence feeds tell us there is significant external operations planning taking place, centralized in Raqqa," he said, without elaborating on the plots. The U.S. is still training local forces whose assistance will be needed to take over and hold the city, and also trying to figure out how to get Turkey and Kurdish YPG fighters, known enemies, to work together in the operation.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the Raqqa fight will start "within the next few weeks," and there are enough resources to fight for Mosul and Raqqa at the same time. "Yes, there will be overlap, and that's part of our plan and we are prepared for that," he said Tuesday. "And second, there's no delay. This is proceeding on plan, even as Mosul is proceeding on plan." The U.S. anticipates the fight for Raqqa will take longer than the battle for Mosul; that offensive began last week, with Iraqi forces making their way through smaller villages as they head to Iraq's second-largest city, held by ISIS since 2014. Townsend also said ISIS is using drones in a "constant and creative" way; while they typically use them for reconnaissance, during one incident, they pretended a drone was crashing in order to lure the enemy into an explosion, The Guardian reports.

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