Conflict coverage · Syria

The fall of Raqqa

June – October 2017Key eventRaqqa

Explore the system14 analytical layers in this conflict

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Military & security

Effects & resilience

MilitaryTerritorial changeISIS remnants and the central desert

The SDF, with coalition air power, takes the caliphate's Syrian capital after a four-month battle that destroys much of the city and displaces its population. ISIS's remaining territory shrinks to the Euphrates valley.

Why it mattersRaqqa broke the caliphate's core and left the SDF governing a major Arab city — the template of the northeast's post-ISIS dilemma: Kurdish-led administration of Arab-majority ground, and reconstruction that never caught up with the destruction.

Confidence: HighSources: Established historical recordMethodology Corrections

Related structure

3 records that this event names, or that name it. Every one is an explicit reference in a published record — nothing here is inferred from subject matter.

Part of

Campaigns whose record places this event inside them.

Anti-ISISThe cities, and the end at Baghouz

Actors

Actor records this event names.

United States in Syria

Participants

Organisations this event records, with the role and confidence it states.

Syrian Democratic Forces · atlasAttacking forcehigh confidence

Where this fits

This is one entry in the Syria timeline. The full Key Events surface carries every dated turning point with its filters and its essential subset, and this event in place shows what came before and after it. How Vigil grades, dates and sources its claims is set out in the methodology.