By ISW Syria Team and Syria Direct
Key Takeaway: U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter stated on October 25
that coalition operations against IS in Ar-Raqqa City will begin “within
weeks” and “overlap” with ongoing operations to seize Mosul in Northern Iraq.
The statement comes one day after Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) Representative
to Paris Khaled Issa stated that “conditions are not in place” for an operation
to seize Ar-Raqqa City, stressing that the Syrian Kurdish YPG could not
participate in the offensive amidst ongoing clashes with opposition groups
backed by Turkey in Operation Euphrates Shield in Northern Aleppo
Province. Meanwhile, pro-regime forces resumed their offensive operations
in Aleppo City on October 23 after the end of three eleven-hour ‘humanitarian
pauses’ implemented by Russia and Syria. The truces ended without any
significant evacuations of civilians or opposition fighters from Eastern Aleppo
City.
