The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces announced last Friday the commencement of an operation to conquer the northern Syrian city of Raqqa. The operation was designated “Euphrates Wrath.”

Raqqa is the capital of the “Caliphate” maintained by Islamic State. In tandem with the effort currently under way to recapture the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS, the loss of Raqqa would represent the final eclipse of the Islamic State as a quasi-sovereign entity. At this point, it would revert back to the guerrilla/insurgent/ terrorist force which it constituted prior to the outbreak of the Syrian civil war.

Conquering the city is likely to be a slow business. However, the final outcome is not in doubt. The Islamic State, whose main slogan in Arabic is Baqiya watatamadad (remaining and expanding), has in reality been contracting since the high point of its advance in the autumn of 2014. Its eventual demise, at least as a quasi-state entity, is assured.

But Syria is host not only to the war against ISIS, but to a series of other, interlocking conflicts.

Read the full article in the Jerusalem Post