U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian forces announced their plan Sunday to retake the Islamic State group’s de facto capital of Raqqa, saying they hoped Turkey would not “interfere in internal Syrian affairs.”

The announcement by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of Kurdish, Arab and Christian forces, was made Sunday at a press conference in Ein Issa, north of Raqqa, attended by commanders and spokespeople for the group. An official who read out a statement said the operation to liberate Raqqa, dubbed the “Euphrates Rage” operation, had officially begun.

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Syrian rebel factions fought each other in besieged eastern Aleppo on Thursday, officials from two of the groups and a war monitor said, potentially undermining their efforts to fend off a major Russian-backed offensive.

Rebel groups have been plagued by disunity and infighting throughout the 5 1/2-year-old conflict, for ideological reasons, over tactical differences or in disputes over territory.

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Iraqi special forces entered the eastern outskirts of Mosul on Tuesday, as the battle to oust the Islamic State group from the country’s second largest city continued.

Troops supported by United States-led coalition airstrikes launched artillery, tank and machine gun fire on militant positions before entering the city’s Gogjali neighborhood. Extremists retaliated with guided anti-tank missiles and small arms, the Associated Press reported.

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Syrian government forces have launched a counter offensive under the cover of airstrikes in an attempt to regain control of areas they lost to insurgents the day before in the northern city of Aleppo, activists and state media said.

The offensive came a day after Syrian rebels launched a broad ground attack aiming to break a weeks-long government siege on the eastern rebel-held neighbourhoods of Syria’s largest city.

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Sana’a Saudi-led jets have struck sites in Yemen’s rebel-controlled capital, Sana’a, hours after a temporary UN-brokered ceasefire ended.

The strikes on Sunday targeted military rebel facilities in the eastern and northern parts of Sana’a.

No casualties were reported from the bombing, which rocked the city.

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