US-backed Syrian fighters clearing remnants in Raqqa

Mustafa Bali, spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said preparations were also underway for a formal declaration of the liberation of Raqqa.

SDF announced that military operations in Raqqa have ended and that their troops have taken full control of the city, once the heart of IS' self-styled caliphate. The U.S.-led coalition cautioned that the clearing operations were not finished and that it estimated about 100 militants may still be hiding in the city.

The spokesman for the US coalition, Col Ryan Dillon, tweeted that 95 per cent of the city is now under full control as clearing operations continue.

The coalition stressed that the SDF had been successful in keeping captured territories from IS because of its thorough clearing procedures that prevent typical IS counterattacks.

Brett McGurk, the US envoy for the coalition battling the IS group, said he was in northern Syria to prepare for the defeat of the militants. He said the United States will help in clearing explosives as well as restoring services in the city. McGurk posted a photograph of surrendering IS militants, saying: "once purported as fierce, now pathetic and a lost cause."

The fall of Raqqa deals a defeat to the IS that has seen its territory steadily shrink. Militants took over Raqqa, located on the Euphrates River, in 2014 and transformed it into the epicenter of their brutal rule.

BEIRUT: A Syrian army general who led a brigade besieged for three years by Islamic State in Deir al-Zor city has died, pro-Syrian government media outlets said on Wednesday. Major General Issam Zahreddine, head of the 104 Brigade of the Syrian Republican Guard, was killed by a mine in the city, a military media unit allied to Hezbollah said.