21 Days to Raqqa: After Aleppo, SAA captures positions at edge of Raqqa province, intends to push to - Polidicks

[QUOTE]The Syrian army looked poised to advance into the Islamic State-held province of Raqqa for the first time since 2014, apparently to pre-empt any move by Saudi Arabia to send ground forces into Syria to fight the jihadist insurgents.A Syrian military source said the army captured positions at the provincial border between Hama and Raqqa in the last two days and intends to advance further. "It is an indication of the direction of coming operations towards Raqqa. In general, the Raqqa front is open ... starting in the direction of the Tabqa area," the source said. Tabqa is the location of an air base captured by Islamic State two years ago, and the source said the army had moved to within 35 km (20 miles) of the base.[/QUOTE] [URL]http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0VN03B[/URL] [URL]http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syrian-army-captures-ground-around-aleppo-ready-to-advance-on-raqqa-a6873086.html[/URL] [URL]https://www.rt.com/news/332462-syrian-army-offensive-raqqa/[/URL] [URL]http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/1.703051[/URL] While this isn't a clear indicator of the SAA's imminent push into Raqqa (it might be a while until we hear news of something like that happening) it's very relieving to know that government for es are now on a clear offensive path. They've taken initiative and they're riding on hard, decisive momentum thanks to Russian support. also I made a typo in the title because the Aleppo offensive is still ongoing.

Weren't the media and "experts" saying government forces were totally defeated and that it was just a matter of time before IS overran all of syria. I guess that was just propaganda?

[QUOTE=mdeceiver79;49752206]Weren't the media and "experts" saying government forces were totally defeated and that it was just a matter of time before IS overran all of syria. I guess that was just propaganda?[/QUOTE] That was prior to Russian intervention, American airstrikes and a few key victories.

I wonder what life is like in raqqa for ordinary people right now. I heard on CSPAN that militant islamist groups like the taliban, ISIS, etc. are very bad at governing their provinces

[QUOTE=proboardslol;49755251]I wonder what life is like in raqqa for ordinary people right now. I heard on CSPAN that militant islamist groups like the taliban, ISIS, etc. are very bad at governing their provinces[/QUOTE] There was an article by a journalist that snuck in there last year. He described everyone living in total fear. There were food lines, toiletry lines, everyone was heavily "taxed" (extorted) and the slightest offense to the Islamic State's ideological version of Islam was severely punished (not necessarily death for everything, but severe beatings, whippings, dismemberment, etc). It was a rather horrifying read.

[QUOTE=proboardslol;49755251]I wonder what life is like in raqqa for ordinary people right now. I heard on CSPAN that militant islamist groups like the taliban, ISIS, etc. are very bad at governing their provinces[/QUOTE] [media]https://youtu.be/sHoyxtz-rHY[/media]