US-Led Coalition Has Conducted Over 100 Strikes to Limit Daesh Movement in Raqqa

Daesh still has freedom of movement in the area of the Syrian city of Raqqa despite the US airstrikes, according to Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. John Dorrian.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) has carried out more than 100 airstrikes to limit jihadists’ ability to move in and out of the Syrian city of Raqqa, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. John Dorrian said at a briefing Thursday.

"We have conducted a lot of strikes on their favored supply routes and infiltration routes. We have done more than 100 strikes on them…in order to limit their freedom of movement," Dorrian told reporters.

The spokesman explained that the Daesh still has freedom of movement in the area.

"They don’t have the ability to move large troop formations, large convoys, but they do have the ability to move into and out of the area," he said.

The Daesh, which is outlawed in the United States, Russia and other countries, seized Raqqa in 2013 and the Iraqi city of Mosul a year later, along with a number of other cities and towns in the two countries.

In October, the US Department of Defense said the operation to isolate Raqqa would begin in the near future.