PKK-affiliated SDF militia raises flag in Raqqa square

US-backed PKK-affiliated militias claimed victory over ISIS terrorists in Raqqa on Tuesday (October 17), raising flags over the last footholds of the terrorist group.

The so-called Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) celebrated driving military vehicles through the city and raised a flag in the city’s stadium saying the fighting was over.

The fall of Raqqa, where ISIS staged euphoric parades after its string of lightning victories in 2014, is a symbol of the group’s movement  towards collapse.

ISIS has lost much of its territory in Syria and Iraq this year, including its most prized possession, Mosul. In Syria, it has been forced back into a strip of the Euphrates valley and surrounding desert.

The US military said on Tuesday that it could only confirm that about 90 percent of the Syrian city of Raqqa had been retaken from ISIS militants,  even as the US-backed militias declared victory.