Coalition forces vow to obliterate ISIS in Raqqa with massive assault in DAYS after London terror attack by British jihadi
Forces have encircled the city in northern Syria which is the centre of ISIS's so-called "caliphate"
A MASSIVE offensive to seize ISIS "capital" in Syria is set to begin within days - with Coalition forces vowing to "rid the world of the scourge that is ISIS".
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the battle to recapture Raqqa from the evil terror clan was likely to start in the coming day after Coalition forces encircled the city.
It comes just two days after ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in Westminster in which four people were murdered by maniac Khalid Masood.
And US-backed forces are reported to be trying to capture Karama, a major village east of Raqqa, today, clashing with enemy fighters on the ground with cover from airstrikes and artillery.
Le Drian told TV channel CNews: "France has always said that Raqqa was a major objective.
"Today, one can say that Raqqa is encircled, that the battle for Raqqa will start in the coming days.
"It will be a very hard battle, but a battle that is going to be of utmost importance."
Earlier this week, the Pentagon said the US-led coalition dropped local ground forces behind enemy lines for the first time near the ISIS-held town of Tabqa.
The offensive has opened up a new front in the campaign to recapture Raqqa, which ISIS branded the capital of its so-called "caliphate" in 2014.
A spokesman for US Central Command told Sun Online that precision airstrikes on ISIS in and around the city were taking place on a "daily basis".
He said: "ISIS’s days are numbered as we work to defeat them in Iraq and Syria.
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"To that end, the Coalition continues to prosecute a military campaign against legitimate military targets in support of our partners in Iraq and Syria.
"The Coalition against Da’esh terrorism will not waiver in its determination to rid the world of the scourge that is ISIS."
The spokesman added that the Coalition "expresses its sympathies to the people of England and everyone involved in the deplorable act of terrorism in London".
Central Command said an operation behind enemy lines to seize Tabqa Dam would give Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) the "strategic advantage" needed to liberate the city.
Overnight on Tuesday, the SDF and Syrian Arab Coalition fighters launched the massive offensive - supported by the Coalition - to retake the the vital Tabqa Dam.
The dam has been used as an ISIS headquarters, a prison for high-profile hostages, a training
location and for external terror plotting since the terror group took the location in 2013.
The US said the area is critical to ISIS’s ability to import and harbour foreign fighters, export terror, and is ISIS’s "last link to territory west of the Euphrates river".
Central Command said airstrikes, Apache helicopters and special op forces supported the attack.
It said more than 300 airstrikes around Tabqa and Raqqa have taken place over the past four months, killing hundreds of enemy fighters and destroying more than 200 buildings and 50 ISIS vehicles.
Colonel Joe Scrocca said: "It takes a special breed of warrior to pull off an airborne operation or air assault behind enemy lines.
“There is nothing easy about this – it takes audacity and courage. And the SDF has that in spades.”
A MoD spokesman said: "We have always been clear that this is a fight that will take time and patience.
";Working by, with and through local forces in Iraq and Syria has enabled progress in both Mosul and around Raqqa."
At least 33 civilians are reported to have been killed in Al Badiya School, west of Raqqa, during an airstrike on Monday night.
The Coalition said it had no reports of civilians being hit but would investigate, said Associated Press.
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