A Syrian monitoring group says Isis has lost control of up to 90 per cent of its de facto capital Raqqa following a series of successful operations by US-backed forces.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday almost all of the city was now held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). A statement from the SDF's top command said Operation Euphrates Wrath has reached its "final stages" after Isis first occupied the city more than three years ago.
After steady progress from both the west and east approaches to the city, the SDF said it had managed to open a new northern front, descriing the campaign as "nearing its end".
The SDF, a coalition made up of both Kurdish and Arab fighters, managed to encircle the city in June, when the full-scale offensive to oust the militants began.
The major operation to push past the National Hospital in the city centre began over the weekend after a lull in fighting. Raqqa, like the battle for Mosul in Iraq - which until July was the largest city under Isis' control - has been a gruelling building-by-building fight.
At least 300,000 Raqqawis have fled in recent weeks, braving Isis sniper fire and improvised explosives devices (IEDs), as well as US-led coalition bombing.
The UN estimates 70,000 civilians are still trapped inside with very little food and water and no electricity in temperatures which still exceed 40 degrees Celsius.
It is not clear how many militants remain in the city. Several Kurdish YPG fighters - who are spearheading the SDF campaign - told The Independent they believed most of their opponents have already escaped to the desert, relying on sniper units and mines to slow the SDF 's advance.
The coalition, however, is still dropping mortars and bombs on a huge scale, levelling entire neighbourhoods in the process. Concerns over the mounting civilian death toll caused by the strikes have been raised by NGOs and the UN. US Central Command, which co-ordinates the Raqqa campaign, has repeatedly said the coalition takes "all reasonable precautions during the planning and execution of air strikes".
When Raqqa falls Isis’ so-called caliphate across eastern Syria and western Iraq will be all but destroyed, with militants relegated to a handful of remaining desert outposts.
As Isis collapses as a land-holding force, analysts expect the organisation to morph into an insurgency group across both countries, stepping up terror attacks and bombings in both the Middle East and across the world.
