In Pictures: Liberating Raqqa from ISIS

US-backed forces said on Tuesday (Oct 17) that they had seized the northern Syrian city of Raqqa from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a major blow to the militant group, which had long used the city as the de facto capital of its self-declared caliphate.

Updated

Published

Oct 19, 2017, 01:04 PM

Syrian Democratic Forces militiamen burying a comrade who died fighting to oust the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants from their self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa, in the nearby village of Hukumya, Syria on Oct 11, 2017. The fighters said that Omar al-Abed died after grabbing an ISIS suicide bomber to shield his comrades from the worst of the blast. PHOTO: NYTIMES

Destroyed buildings near the frontline in east Raqqa, Syria on Oct. 12, 2017. Though pockets of scattered resistance remained, the American-backed Syrian Democratic Forces declared on Oct 17, 2017 that Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of the ISIS group, had been liberated. PHOTO: NYTIMES

A member of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a militia made up of Syrian Kurds and Arabs, resting at a forward base near the frontline in east Raqqa, Syria on Oct 12, 2017. PHOTO: NYTIMES

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces monitoring and firing at what they believe are ISIS fighters in Raqqa, Syria, Oct 12, 2017. PHOTO: NYTIMES

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces monitoring and firing at what they believe are ISIS fighters in Raqqa, Syria on Oct 12, 2017. PHOTO: NYTIMES

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces greeting one another after returning from the frontline in east Raqqa, Syria on Oct 12, 2017. PHOTO: NYTIMES

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces monitoring and firing at what they believe are ISIS fighters in Raqqa, Syria Oct 12, 2017. PHOTO: NYTIMES

Kawther al-Obaid feeding her injured husband, Abdel Hemedi, as their son Bassam looks on at a hospital in Tal Abyad, Syria on Oct 10, 2017. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that more than 3,000 were killed during the battle in Raqqa, the ISIS' self-proclaimed capital. Hemedi said he was wounded in an airstrike. PHOTO: NYTIMES

Younes Omar, whose family escaped one of the last areas of the city being contested by an ISIS group, at a mosque on the outskirts of Raqqa, Syria on Oct 16, 2017. PHOTO: NYTIMES

Syrian Democratic Forces fighters using a destroyed building as a base in western Raqqa, Syria on Oct 16, 2017. PHOTO: NYTIMES

A Syrian Democratic Forces sniper on the watch for ISIS fighters in Raqqa, Syria on Oct 16, 2017. PHOTO: NYTIMES

Mourners grieving at the funeral of Adhem Sheko, a militiaman killed while fighting to oust the ISIS group from Raqqa, in Kobani, Syria on Oct 14, 2017. PHOTO: NYTIMES

A woman grieving after the funeral of her brother, a Syrian Democratic Forces militiaman who died fighting to oust the ISIS militants from Raqqa, in the nearby village of Hukumya, Syria on Oct 11, 2017. The fighters said that Omar al-Abed died after grabbing an ISIS suicide bomber to shield his comrades from the worst of the blast. PHOTO: NYTIMES

A Syrian Democratic Forces fighter walking through the destroyed streets of Raqqa on Oct 12, 2017. PHOTO: NYTIMES

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