Smoke rises from the al-Mishlab district at Raqqa's southeastern outskirts, Syria June 7, 2017. (REUTERS photo)
DAMASCUS, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-led anti-terror coalition has carried out 25 airstrikes on the city of Raqqa in northern Syria over the past 24 hours, killing at least 17 civilians, state news agency SANA reported on Friday.
The airstrikes targeted residential areas in Raqqa, and in some of them the U.S. strikes used white phosphorus that is internationally prohibited, said SANA.
It said the strikes were focused on areas in the western and eastern parts of Raqqa, adding that 12 of the airstrikes targeted an internet cafe in the Jazra area near the Euphrates River.
The U.S. has upped the airstrikes on Raqqa recently, as part of a wide-scale military campaign to clean the city of the Islamic State (IS) group, which declared the city of Raqqa as its de facto capital in 2014.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with the heavy backing of the U.S. coalition, announced on Tuesday the commencement of the fourth stage of the attack on Raqqa, which includes taking Raqqa from IS this time.
The SDF said Friday they have captured two neighborhoods east and west of of Raqqa, namely the Mashlab neighborhood, the first in the eastern part of Raqqa city, and the neighborhood of Jazra west of Raqqa.
Following capturing those area, the SDF will clear the areas of the IS leftovers and explosives.
The SDF posted a photo, showing its fighters tossing an IS flag from atop a building in Jazra, pledging to fully liberate Raqqa city from IS.
Earlier in the day, pro-government Sham FM radio said 12 SDF fighters were killed when targeted by an IS suicide bomber in Mashlab.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, meanwhile, said the Syrian army captured 500 km of areas in the western countryside of Raqqa after entering the administrative borders of that province 48 hours ago.
The Observatory, which says it relies on a network of activists on ground, said the aim of the Syrian army progress in the countryside of Raqqa is to proceed to take areas from IS in the southern countryside of Raqqa to reach a triangle of areas between Raqqa, the northern province of Aleppo and the central province of Hama.
This will enable the army to isolate IS in the remaining areas under its control in the southern countryside of Aleppo, which will leave IS between two options either to withdraw or to fight to death.
But in terms of the cooperation between the Syrian army and the SDF, none of them declared any possible cooperation in the battle against IS, but observers believe that there is a possible coordination for now.
