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.
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