Sandstorm hampers offensive on IS-held Raqa
A US-backed militia advance on the Islamic State group's Syria stronghold Raqa was being hampered by a sandstorm on Thursday, a commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said.
"The situation is dangerous today because there is no visibility due to a desert sandstorm," the commander told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We fear that Daesh will take advantage of this to move in and launch a counter-attack," he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
Speaking in Ain Issa, the main staging point for the operation some 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Raqa, the commander said the sandstorm was also impeding visibility for warplanes from the US-led coalition backing the offensive.
Fighters in the area were covering their faces with scarves and journalists were being prevented from going to the front.
Supported by coalition air strikes, the SDF launched the offensive on Saturday, upping pressure on the jihadists who are also battling Iraqi forces in their bastion of Mosul.
The SDF, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab forces, has been pushing south from areas near the Turkish border towards Raqa, seizing a string of villages.
The commander said SDF forces advancing south on two fronts, from Ain Issa and Suluk near the Turkish border, were close to converging at a position some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Raqa.
"We have been able to cover a third of the distance that separated us from Raqa. Our strategy is to surround the enemy before beginning combing operations," SDF spokeswoman Jihan Sheikh Ahmed said.
She said the SDF had taken 15 villages and hamlets since the start of the operation and were fighting on Thursday in Al-Heisha, a town some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Raqa.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday that 20 civilians had been killed in a coalition strike on Al-Heisha.
The SDF denied the report and a coalition spokesman said it was investigating the claim by the Britain-based monitoring group.