Raqqa battle: Three journalists injured, including Kurdistan24 correspondent
RAQQA, Syria (Kurdistan24) – A Kurdistan24 correspondent embedded with the US-backed Syrian Kurdish-Arab alliance forces was injured along with two other journalists on Friday while covering the fight against the Islamic State (IS) in Raqqa city.
Kurdistan24 correspondent Redwan Bezar was injured when an unknown drone hovering in a neighborhood recently liberated by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in east of Raqqa threw explosives near him.
Bezar and the other two reporters working for local news agencies were injured by explosives fragments and then were transported to a hospital in Kobani on Syria-Turkey border.
Kurdistan24 office in Syria’s northeastern city of Qamishlo confirmed that the journalists were injured but were in a stable condition.
The journalists were covering the battles in the east side of Raqqa where the SDF has so far liberated two neighborhoods.
Speaking to Kurdistan24, Jihan Sheikh Ahmad, the spokesperson of operation room in Raqqa battle, said the SDF liberated al-Mishlab district at the city's southeastern outskirts.
“Our forces liberated a large factory of sugar in addition to a strategic military base used by Daesh [IS] and previously belonging to the Syrian army,” she said.
On the southwestern outskirts of the city, Sheikh Ahmad said their forces took control of Sibahiya district after engaging in heavy clashes with IS militants.
Dozens of IS insurgents were killed in the clashes, while no SDF casualties have so far been reported.
Additionally, the SDF liberated Al-Jazra neighbourhood in the southwestern outskirts of the city and gained many heavy weapons and two tanks left by IS militants.
The SDF, of which the Syrian Kurdish YPG is a key component, launched a comprehensive operation to retake the city of Raqqa from IS.
Editing by Ava Homa