The United States has begun planning an offensive to liberate Raqqa from the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) terrorist group, and Russia will not be a member of the operation, US Defense Secretary Carter said.

“Russia is not a participant in our Raqqa plan,” Carter told reporters at a joint press conference with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian on Tuesday.

“We do deconflict our coalition operations with Russia through a very professional military-to-military channel. That channel is active every day, and everyone behaves themselves very professionally on both sides in that channel,” he said.

The US official noted that US-led coalition is planning an offensive to free the Syrian city of Raqqa from ISIL and expects the operation to overlap with the offensive to retake Mosul.

“We have already begun laying the groundwork with our partners to commence the isolation of Raqqa,” Carter stated. “There will be overlap [with Mosul operation]. That is part of our plan and we are prepared for that.”

The secretary pointed out that “capable, motivates” local Syrian forces will lead the offensive on the city.

Source: Websites