Al-Raqqa's children protected their areas after liberation-2

NEWS DESK

The children of al-Raqqa city fighting in SDF's ranks, liberated their city and maintained its security and stability. It opened the door to the enrollment of the city's young men and women. It managed to organize itself in military battalions that contributed to develop its military and political capabilities and raise them to the highest readiness for any military operations that may target the city.

Al-Raqqa city is considered one of the most important strategic points for IS mercenaries and was considered the capital of its alleged caliphate. IS practiced the worst forms of torture against the people of al-Raqqa and imposed many laws and decrees to subdue the people of the city. The people suffered for about 4 years due to the mercenaries' practices in the absence of any military forces able to fight those mercenaries until launching Wrath of the Euphrates campaign by SDF.

Launching al-Raqqa's liberation campaign

On November 6, 2016, SDF launched Wrath of the Euphrates campaign against the IS through a press statement in Ain Isa town, north of al-Raqqa, 50 km, which was backed by the International Coalition after it confirmed the ability of these forces to liberate the region from IS mercenaries and protect its security and stability, as happened before in Manbij city in northern Syria.

SDF planned to liberate al-Raqqa city with all its administrative borders from IS mercenaries. After its people appealed to liberate their city and rid them of mercenaries, despite many objections of some regional and international parties in the region and refusing to find radical solutions to the Syrian crisis and the fight against the terrorism in the region.

SDF and fighting factions liberate the so-called capital of the caliphate

SDF were able to liberate al-Raqqa on October 20, 2017 after many fierce battles that lasted nearly a year on several separate stages. The first stage of the northern part of the city began to move to the west by its second stage then, the east in the third stage and isolating the city from the entire countryside in the fourth stage until reaching the final stage, where the great battle to liberate the city was launched, which lasted for 166 days.

Factions of al-Raqqa city participated in the liberation campaign despite their simple capabilities and lack of training in the battles did not greatly affect the course of the battles within Wrath of Euphrates campaign, but enabled the forces to identify the geography of the area to accelerate the liberation from the grip of IS mercenaries, and their losses did not discourage from continuing the fighting until their city was liberated on October 20,2017.

City's delivery and return to the city's administrative boundaries

The process of delivering al-Raqqa city to al-Raqqa Civil Council facilitated the return of troops to their positions and the deployment of factions and forces on the border and various fronts to protect the area after liberation from any military operations that may target the city. On November 10, 2017, the Syrian Democratic Forces handed over the city to the Civil Council which has been formed since the launch of the campaign after its specialized teams opened the main roads and remove the accumulated mines left behind by mercenaries in the city, and then start the work of the reconstruction and the return of displaced persons who were forced to flee as result of fighting in the area.

The combatant factions are rebuilding their military structure under SDF's umbrella

The factions of al-Raqqa's sons and in cooperation with the people of the region and tribal sheikhs began to organize themselves under the umbrella of SDF and to restructure themselves according to the system of these forces to be more experienced and ready to defend the region and other neighboring forces in the north of Syria, especially after joining and affiliation increased to those forces after being touched by the liberation operation.

These forces were able to organize themselves within the ranks of the military forces under the roof of SDF, and underwent many military exercises as well as political and intellectual ones to raise their military and organizational capabilities, and within one year of liberation, they were able to form eight military regiments comprising about 2500 fighters.

They also managed to form administrative offices within their military formations, and aim to organize them to reach forces with an enabling ground with future plans, including the Military Security Bureau for the control of sleeper cells and the pursuit of mercenaries remaining in the area.

The Military Police Office is responsible for providing medical care to combatants. The Office of Military Relations acts as a link between forces and parents and intervenes in the event of problems between the parties. Martyrs' Families Office Affairs is concerned with communicating with the families of the martyrs of the forces and working on their assistance, and the Military Academies which are concerned with training the fighters continuously.

Women in al-Raqqa break the barrier of outdated customs and traditions

They have special departments for women fighters, who played a prominent role in the liberation of al-Raqqa, which was led by the commander of SDF, Rojda Filat, and also has a major role now in protecting women in the region and participating actively in al-Raqqa  external fronts alongside the fighters.

Preserving security in the city through the Internal Security Forces

Al-Raqqa's children organized themselves within the Internal Security Forces which were formed to maintain internal security and stability. In order to strengthen the role of these forces and raise their competencies, an academy was established in the northern regions of Syria on behalf of Martyr Idris Academy, and the academy has completed so far 26 training courses involving 100 trainees at least.

With the expansion of these forces and receiving the duties in the city and its countryside they expanded its organizational structure and redeployment and diversify the mechanism of work and division according to some specialties, including the Forces of Combating Organized Crime, which inspect the criminal and terrorist acts, and the Help forces which intervene when needed and required by the people, and Emergency Forces traveling in the city In the form of patrols intervening in the event of any emergency, the Demining Forces, which are specialized in the process of dismantling mines,  and the Traffic Forces.

As for some operations targeting the city, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Luqman Khalil said that al-Raqqa city was a strategic point for the forces in Syria, and tried several times to block SDF progress in direction of al-Raqqa."

He pointed out that the actions these groups like assassinations or some bombings were carried out by some sleeper cells that may be present in the city, and these attempts to obstruct the reconstruction and stability of the city.

Luqman Khalil also pointed out that their forces, in cooperation with the Internal Security Forces, had been able to arrest some members of these cells for about a week, and said that the search and investigation of these groups continue until they are completely eliminated.

After the liberation of al-Raqqa and within a year after, al-Raqqa factions, which organized themselves under the banner of SDF today, became an integrated military institution capable of protecting the city's borders, controlling its security and restoring stability to its people.

Tomorrow: al-Raqqa's women a year after liberating of IS' blackness

A.H

ANHA

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