CASUALTIES MOUNT AS IRAQIS PRESS DEEPER INTO IS-HELD MOSUL
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) – Zahida Fathi sat on a military-issued cot, rocking back and forth and repeating the names of the dead – her husband and six of her children, killed when a car bomb exploded near their home as they were trying to flee clashes between Iraqi forces and Islamic State fighters in the city of Mosul. “They all died, they all died,” she said, her right hand and arm bandaged with a dressing. “They just kept burning in the flames. … Muhammad, Ahmed, Neshwan, Majid, Ali, Raghat, their father.” Fathi, her daughter Dalal and son Mahmood were the only ones to survive the blast on Sunday.
SYRIAN KURDS PUSH AHEAD IN THEIR OFFENSIVE TOWARD RAQQA
BEIRUT (AP) – Backed by U.S. airstrikes, Kurdish-led Syrian fighters clashed on Monday with Islamic State militants north of the city of Raqqa in Syria as they pushed ahead in their offensive aiming to retake the city that has been the de facto capital of the extremist group since 2014. Members of a coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters known as the Syria Democratic Forces have been on the offensive in the area since late Saturday, aiming to initially isolate and encircle Raqqa. The United States, France and Britain said they would provide air support for the offensive, which was announced at a news conference on Sunday in Ein Issa, north of Raqqa.