Topic - Raqqa

east of Aleppo. It is the capital of the Al-Raqqah Governorate and one of the main cities of the historical Diyār Muḍar, the western part of the Jazīra. According to the 2004 official census, the population of the city is 220,488 people. The city contains the Uwais al-Qarni Mosque. It is currently the capital for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. - Source: Wikipedia

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Soldiers of the Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) deploy with armoured military vehicles to secure roads leading to Gweiran Prison which houses men accused of being an Islamic State (ISIS) fighters in Hassakeh, northeastern Syria, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)

Syrian military, Kurdish-led forces announce new truce after guards leave camp housing IS families

By Ghaith Alsayed - Associated Press

Residents topple a statue of a female Kurdish fighter after the takeover of the town by Syrian government forces from U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in Tabqa, eastern Syria, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrian government announces a ceasefire with the Syrian Democratic Forces

By Ghaith Alsayed and Omar Albam - Associated Press

Over 1,000 ancient relics recovered from Syrian museum

Associated Press

In this Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019, photo, Um Mahmoud recalls her experience returning to Raqqa, Syria, during an interview in the courtyard of her home. After two years on the run with the Islamic State group, Um Mahmoud was ready to return home. In June, she finally made it back to Raqqa with her three daughters and three grandchildren -- finding an empty, partially burned house and a hostile city. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

From IS camp, Syrian family returns home to a hostile city

By SARAH EL DEEB - Associated Press

In this Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019, photo, a first responders takes a break after removing a body at the site of a mass grave in Raqqa, Syria. First responders say they have pulled nearly 20 bodies out of the latest mass grave uncovered in Raqqa, the Syrian city that was the de facto capital of the Islamic State group. It is the 16th mass grave in the city, and officials are struggling with a lack of resources needed to document and one day identify the thousands of dead who have been dug out. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Syria’s Raqqa still finding the dead, 2 years after ISIS fall

By Sarah El Deeb - Associated Press

FILE - In this file photo released on April 25, 2015, by a militant website, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, young boys known as the &quot;caliphate cubs&quot; hold their rifles as they parade after graduating from a religious school, in Tal Afar, near Mosul city, north Iraq. The Arabic words, center, read: &quot;A parade of caliphate cubs after their graduation from a religious school.&quot; (Militant website via AP, File)

Timeline of the rise and fall of the Islamic State group

By The Associated Press - Associated Press

This frame grab from a video provided on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018, shows a Syrian worker of a Raqqa group checking human remains at the site of a mass grave believed to contain the bodies of civilians and Islamic State militants, in Raqqa. A local official in the city of Raqqa says more than 500 bodies have so far been exhumed from one of the largest mass graves discovered in the city. The northern Syrian city was once the de facto capital of the Islamic State group and was liberated in a campaign that ended more than a year ago, but rescuers and early recovery teams continue to locate mass graves scattered around the city. (AP Photo)

Hundreds of bodies exhumed from mass grave in Syria’s Raqqa

By ZEINA KARAM - Associated Press

FILE -- In this Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 file photo, a frame grab made from drone video shows damaged buildings in Raqqa, Syria. Amnesty International, an international rights group, urged the U.S.-led military coalition battling the Islamic State group to investigate airstrikes that killed civilians in the campaign to liberate the Syrian city of Raqqa from the extremists. Amnesty said Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018, that the U.S.-coalition's admission last month that it killed 78 more civilians than previously reported in the 2017 assault on Raqqa was just the &quot;tip of the iceberg.&quot; (AP Photo/Gabriel Chaim, File)

Amnesty urges US coalition to probe Syrian civilian deaths

By PHILIP ISSA - Associated Press

FILE -- In this July 26, 2017 file photo, a U.S. soldier stands near Syrian children on a road that leads to Raqqa, Syria. Amnesty International, in a report Tuesday, June 5, 2018, accused the U.S. and its allies of showing little regard for civilians' lives while attacking the Syrian city that was once the self-styled capital of the Islamic State group. The report said that the U.S.-led coalition's 2017 assault on Raqqa killed hundreds of civilians and reduced sections of the city to rubble. A coalition spokesman calls the allegations &quot;absurd and grossly inaccurate.&quot; (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

Rights group says U.S.-led coalition destroyed Syrian city

By PHILIP ISSA - Associated Press

This Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 frame grab made from drone video shows damaged buildings in Raqqa, Syria two days after Syrian Democratic Forces said that military operations to oust the Islamic State group have ended and that their fighters have taken full control of the city. (AP Photo/ Gabriel Chaim)

The Latest: France’s Macron hails freeing of Syria’s Raqqa

Associated Press

This frame grab from a video released on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017 provided by Ronahi TV, a Kurdish TV channel media outlet that is consistent with independent AP reporting, shows members of a Kurdish female militia, the Women's Protection Units, flashing victory signs as they celebrate the victory against the Islamic State group, in Raqqa, Syria. The militia that took part in freeing the northern Syrian city of Raqqa from the Islamic State group said it will continue the fight to liberate women living under the extremist group's brutal rule. (Ronahi TV, via AP)

Kurdish female militia vows to keep fighting IS militants

By BASSEM MROUE - Associated Press

This frame grab from video released Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017 and provided by Hawar News Agency, a Syrian Kurdish activist-run media group, shows fighters from the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) celebrating their victory in Raqqa, Syria. U.S.-backed Syrian forces liberated the city of Raqqa from Islamic State militants on Tuesday, a senior commander for the force said, adding that clearing operations were underway to remove land mines left behind and search for the extremist group's sleeper cells. (Hawar News Agency via AP)

The Latest: White House sees new phase in Syria after Raqqa

Associated Press

This frame grab from a video released on September 5, 2017 by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian army senior commander Brig. Gen. Issam Zahreddine, right, who led the fight against Islamic Sate militants in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour congratulates a Syrian army soldier, at a front line, in Deir el-Zour, Syria. The Central Military Media said on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017, that Zahreddine was killed in Hawija Saqr, east of Deir el-Zour, in operations against IS militants. (SANA via AP)

US-backed Syrian forces clear Raqqa after driving out IS

By SARAH EL DEEB - Associated Press

In this picture taken on Monday Oct. 16, 2017, and provided by The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces outlet that is consistent with independent AP reporting, shows a Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter, waves his Kurdish party flag at the front line where they battle against the Islamic State militants, in Raqqa, Syria. The U.S-backed Syrian forces battling the Islamic State group in Syria say Raqqa's national hospital, one of the militants' last holdouts in city has been captured. (Syrian Democratic Forces via AP)

Syrian commander says Syria’s Raqqa is free from ISIS

By Sarah El Deeb - Associated Press

In this Saturday, July 22, 2017 photo, a Kurd fighter Ardal, right, and Arab fighter, Abdullah, left, who fight together with the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), sit on their roof top position where they battle against the Islamic State militants, in Raqqa, northeast Syria. Kurds and Arabs are fighting side by side in the assault against the Islamic State group in Raqqa, but they have vastly different visions of what happens next. (AP Photo/Sarah El Deeb)

Arabs, Kurds unite against IS, but post-victory? ‘God knows’

By SARAH EL DEEB - Associated Press