June 6 – October 17, 2017
US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), supported by American special operations troops, airstrikes, and artillery, launched the final assault on Raqqa — ISIS's de facto capital and self-proclaimed 'capital of the caliphate' — on June 6, 2017. The battle was characterized by intense urban combat as ISIS fighters used the civilian population as human shields and planted thousands of improvised explosive devices throughout the city. US-led coalition airstrikes and artillery, combined with SDF ground advances, reduced an estimated 80% of Raqqa's buildings to rubble in the four-month campaign. When Raqqa fell on October 17, the territorial caliphate was broken; ISIS scattered into the desert and reverted to insurgent tactics. The battle cost roughly 1,600 civilian lives and left 270,000 people displaced from a city that would require years to make habitable.
Commanders