US-backed forces push closer to Syria's Raqa

A US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance pushed closer to Raqa and Iraqi forces seized a key town near Mosul as offensives advanced yesterday against the two Islamic State group strongholds.

After announcing the start of the long-awaited offensive on Raqa on Sunday, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance said it had moved south towards the city despite fierce jihadist resistance.

South of Mosul, Iraqi forces had retaken the town of Hamam al-Alil from IS, a key objective in their three-week advance on the city.

Raqa and Mosul are the last major cities in Syria and Iraq under the jihadists' control and their capture would deal a knockout blow to the self-styled "caliphate" IS declared in mid-2014.

The US-led coalition that launched operations against IS two years ago is providing crucial backing to the offensives, with both air strikes and special forces advisers on the ground.

SDF spokeswoman Jihan Sheikh Ahmed told AFP that forces had advanced on two fronts towards Raqa amid heavy fighting.

Alliance forces had pushed at least 10 kilometres (six miles) south towards the city from the towns of Ain Issa and Suluk, she said.

Near Mosul, federal police, army and elite interior ministry forces established full control over Hamam al-Alil, the last town of note on the way to Mosul from the south, AFP reporters said.

It lies on the west bank of the Tigris river, about 15 kilometres (nine miles) southeast of the edge of Mosul.

Fighting also continued east of Mosul, with Kurdish forces launching an offensive to take the town of Bashiqa and the elite Counter Terrorism Service battling IS in the city's suburbs.