Activists say Kurdish-led forces advance on ISIS-held Raqqa
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BEIRUT—Syrian Kurdish-led forces were closing in Saturday on the de-facto capital of the Islamic State group in Syria, seizing a cotton factory only a couple of miles north of the city, activists and Kurdish media reported.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, backed by US-led coalition airstrikes, clashed with the militants in a multi-pronged offensive northeast and northwest of the city. The offensive brings the SDF 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the northeast of the city, the Observatory said. Fighting was also reported about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) north of Raqqa and 13 kilometers (8 miles) to the northwest, the Observatory said.
