<p>A US-backed alliance broke into the western part of the Islamic State group's stronghold Raqa today, the force and a monitor said, opening up a second front inside the Syrian city.<br /><br />Backed by US-led coalition air strikes, the Syrian Democratic Forces have spent months tightening the noose on IS-held Raqa and entered the city for the first time earlier this week from the east.<br /><br />Today, they pierced into Raqa from the west, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.<br /><br />"The SDF captured the western half of the Al-Sabahiya neighbourhood and are reinforcing their positions there," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.<br /><br />"They then advanced north to the adjacent district of Al-Romaniya and are fighting IS there," he told AFP. A statement from the SDF's Operation Wrath of the Euphrates said its fighters stormed Al-Romaniya on Saturday and were locked "in fierce fighting inside the district".<br /><br />Held by IS since 2014, Raqa emerged as a key hub for the jihadists' operations in Syria, neighbouring Iraq, and beyond.<br /><br />The SDF -- an Arab-Kurdish alliance formed in 2015 -- launched its campaign to capture Raqa in November and chipped away at IS territory around the city's north, west, and east. In addition to holding part of Al-Sabahiya in Raqa's west, the alliance also controls the eastern neighbourhood of Al-Meshleb.<br /><br />But the force has struggled to advance from the city's north, where IS holds a military complex known as Division 17.<br /><br />"IS has reinforced the northern approach to Raqa much more, thinking that's how the SDF would try to advance on the city," Abdel Rahman said.<br /><br />"The western and eastern entrances to the city were much less fortified," he said.<br /><br />The offensive has been backed by the US-led coalition with air strikes, special forces advisers, weapons, and equipment.</p>
<p>A US-backed alliance broke into the western part of the Islamic State group's stronghold Raqa today, the force and a monitor said, opening up a second front inside the Syrian city.<br /><br />Backed by US-led coalition air strikes, the Syrian Democratic Forces have spent months tightening the noose on IS-held Raqa and entered the city for the first time earlier this week from the east.<br /><br />Today, they pierced into Raqa from the west, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.<br /><br />"The SDF captured the western half of the Al-Sabahiya neighbourhood and are reinforcing their positions there," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.<br /><br />"They then advanced north to the adjacent district of Al-Romaniya and are fighting IS there," he told AFP. A statement from the SDF's Operation Wrath of the Euphrates said its fighters stormed Al-Romaniya on Saturday and were locked "in fierce fighting inside the district".<br /><br />Held by IS since 2014, Raqa emerged as a key hub for the jihadists' operations in Syria, neighbouring Iraq, and beyond.<br /><br />The SDF -- an Arab-Kurdish alliance formed in 2015 -- launched its campaign to capture Raqa in November and chipped away at IS territory around the city's north, west, and east. In addition to holding part of Al-Sabahiya in Raqa's west, the alliance also controls the eastern neighbourhood of Al-Meshleb.<br /><br />But the force has struggled to advance from the city's north, where IS holds a military complex known as Division 17.<br /><br />"IS has reinforced the northern approach to Raqa much more, thinking that's how the SDF would try to advance on the city," Abdel Rahman said.<br /><br />"The western and eastern entrances to the city were much less fortified," he said.<br /><br />The offensive has been backed by the US-led coalition with air strikes, special forces advisers, weapons, and equipment.</p>