DAMASCUS, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Following a four-month-long offensive by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Islamic State (IS) collapsed under the pressure and lost its de facto capital in Syria's northern province of Raqqa.
The SDF troops, an alliance of Kurds, Arabs, and Assyrians led by the Kurdish YPG and supported by the U.S.-led coalition, have fully captured Raqqa on Tuesday, after eliminating the terror-labeled militants in the heartland of their rule in Syria.
"The military operations in Raqqa have ended and now the city is being mopped up in search of sleeper cells if existed," Talal Silo, the spokesman of the SDF, told Xinhua by phone.
The city is also being combed in search of mines, as the situation in Raqqa has been completely controlled by the SDF.
"Soon we will have an official statement about the liberation of Raqqa," he said.
"Sure the city of Raqqa has been liberated, and the military operations have ended, but we are mopping up the city," he stressed.
The victory marks the first major defeat to IS in Syria, as Raqqa is the de facto capital of the terror-designated group.
In the last week, a deal was struck between the SDF and IS with the mediation of local tribes in Raqqa for their surrender.
Around 3,500 civilians evacuated the city over the past week, in addition to 275 local IS militants, while another 300 foreign ones remained in the city to meet a black fate.
Kurdish activists said the surrendered IS militants were taken to prison in the city of Tabqa in the countryside of Raqqa, while other activists, mainly pro-Syrian government, said the U.S.-led coalition and the SDF allowed them to be transferred to the countryside of Deir al-Zour province in eastern Syria where the Syrian army is advancing in the battle against IS in that oil-rich area near Iraq.
For the foreign IS fighters, the U.S.-backed coalition didn't accept their departure, as Paris opposed to their transfer as one of them was the mastermind behind the terror attack in Paris.
The foreigners are the ones who were standing till the end before the SDF retook all of their positions, including the city's local stadium, which was the last IS position in Raqqa.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday that as many as 3,250 people, including 1,130 civilians, have been killed during the four-month-long battles in Raqqa.
It added that children and women were among the killed civilians, as the rest of the death toll is for IS militants and SDF fighters.
IS declared Raqqa as its de facto capital in 2014, after announcing their self-styled caliphate in Syria.
Finally, the end of IS has become around the corner, as the Syrian army forces and its allies are clawing back areas fallen to the terror-designated group in Deir al-Zour.
The Syrian army succeeded over the past two days to completely besiege IS in areas they control in the city of Deir al-Zour and started attacking those areas.
This came after the army captured the city of Mayadeen, which was deemed as the IS capital in Deir al-Zour.
With the IS positions now crumbling in Deir al-Zour, the terror-designated organization is left with a major stronghold in the city of Bukamal on the border with IS-controlled areas in Iraq.
The Bukamal battle is expected to be the last against IS in Syria.
Hmaidi Abdullah, a Syrian political expert, told Xinhua the battle in Bukmal could take some time due to its proximity to IS-held areas in neighboring Iraq.
Meanwhile, Anas Joudeh, the head of the Nation Building Movement, told Xinhua that the end of IS is something positive, noting, however, that the most important thing is how to eliminate the ideology of IS.
"If we defeat IS and we didn't fight its ideology, it could re-appear in Syria," he said, adding that "a political solution and reconciliation are the solutions to prevent IS from re-appearing in another shape."
For its side, the Syrian government has commented on the liberation of Raqqa by the SDF, as it has expressed dismay and rejection to the U.S.-led coalition, accusing it of massacring the people in Raqqa during the operation.
