BEIRUT -- A Syrian Kurdish-led force fighting the Islamic State militant group is on the verge of surrounding a wide area north of the extremist group's stronghold of Raqqa, a spokesman for the group said Thursday.
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Cihan Ehmed of the U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces said its fighters are advancing on two fronts north of Raqqa, the declared capital of the Islamic State's self-declared caliphate. The push from Ein Issa and Suluk north of Raqqa has been ongoing for days under the cover of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition.
The Democratic Forces, which includes Kurdish, Arab, Syrian and Turkmen fighters, say they have committed 30,000 fighters to the offensive aiming eventually to recapture Raqqa, a move that was announced on Sunday. Iraq also is waging a major offensive to drive the Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul.
Ehmed said once the forces heading in from the two directions meet north of Raqqa, they will surround 212 square miles of territory controlled by the extremists.
"The operations are ongoing according to the plan," she said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said many people are fleeing areas of fighting north of Raqqa. It added that Democratic Forces fighters have advanced north of Raqqa, capturing new areas and raising to 17 the number of villages and farms taken from the Islamic State group since the offensive began.
Later Thursday, the Democratic Forces said in social media postings that its fighters have captured three farms, a village, and have approached the village of Hayes where intense clashes are taking place.
The operation to recapture Raqqa has been dubbed "Euphrates Rage" and a joint operations command has been set up to coordinate various factions taking part in the battles.
Elsewhere in Syria, a rocket fired by rebels struck a school in the capital Damascus' central al-Mohajireen neighborhood wounded three children, state media outlets said without providing further details. In the rebel-held Damascus suburbs of Douma and Saqba, government airstrikes killed at least 11 civilians, including four children and three women, according to the Syrian Civil Defense in Damascus suburbs. The Observatory also said 11 were killed, but said they included four women.
In the northern city of Aleppo, seven people were wounded, some critically, when rebels shelled two government-held neighborhoods, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said. Later Thursday, pro-government media outlets also said allied troops moved in on new rebel advances in the western part of the city, regaining control of parts of the strategic Al-Assad district in intense fighting.
The rebels had seized a couple of strategic areas in western Aleppo since they opened an offensive on government-held parts of Aleppo on Oct. 28 to break the siege imposed on areas they have controlled since July. The siege on eastern Aleppo was coupled with a punishing bombing campaign by Syrian aircraft and supported by Russia, which has been backing the government of President Bashar Assad. Since late October, Russia said it would halt the airstrikes as civilian casualties rose, urging rebels to leave the territory.
A statement Thursday by the Russian Defense Ministry said such halts would continue. Russia had earlier bristled at extending the breaks in the fighting in Aleppo, saying the pauses would play into the hands of the insurgents.
"The humanitarian pauses are undoubtedly needed," said spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov. "But we believe that simply extending their duration without offering real assistance to civilians, and allow the terrorists to restore their capabilities, would be unproductive and defy common sense." Russia and Syria's government refer to all armed opposition as "terrorists."
Konashenkov criticized the U.N. for failing to make use of the 10-hour windown to deliver aid, despite being given advance notice.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Thursday poured scorn on the U.S. officials who questioned the usefulness of Russia's "humanitarian pauses."
"The degree of these people's capriciousness is amazing," Ryabkov said in comments carried by the Interfax news agency. "No matter what we do, it's all bad. If we carry out strikes, it's bad; if we don't, it's bad. If we open humanitarian corridors, it's also bad."
Ryabkov said breaks in fighting in Aleppo will continue to be observed to help civilians.
Insurgents have refused to leave, saying the halts are not supervised by the U.N. and lack safety guarantees for evacuation. The U.N. has failed to secure humanitarian aid to the besieged Aleppo districts during the halts. During the last Russian-declared "pause" last Friday, rebels fired at one of the corridors, wounding two Russian servicemen and a Syrian journalist.
A Section on 11/11/2016