Retaking Raqqa / Rojava Syria 2017
The campaign launched by SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) to liberate ISIS' capital Raqqa took just over 4 months in late 2017. Earlier, ISIS had months to prepare for a this defensive fight against SDF. Most of the engagement had been with IEDs and snipers. Almost everywhere in the city had been mined which forced troops to advance roughly. Airstrikes of the coalition forces hit ISIS positions intensely during days and nights, gave them no space to move around in the city. There were dozens of tunnels that ISIS fighters used to change their positions covered. ISIS also used simple drones to drop explosives on SDF fighters around the frontline. Approximately 300.000 civilians are displaced from Raqqa.