Dark Victory in Raqqa
For The New Yorker, Luke Mogelson reports on America’s involvement in Raqqa, Syria, which helped Kurdish forces expel ISIS in mid-October. The Syrian Democratic Forces (S.D.F.), which were instrumental in defeating ISIS, have a tenuous relationship with the United States. Although the U.S. deployed forces and weaponry to assist S.D.F., some wonder if U.S. forces will now abandon the country. Mogelson adds, “On October 19th, in a ceremony at Naim Square, in the center of Raqqa, the S.D.F. announced that the city had been ‘liberated.’ This feels like a misnomer. The coalition’s air campaign has left Raqqa an uninhabitable wasteland. More than three hundred thousand civilians have been displaced.”