Ali Moussa Al-Shawakh, known by his kunya Abu Luqman, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari or Ali al-Hamoud, was a Syrian man and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant governor of Raqqa, Syria as of July 2015. He used to be governor of Aleppo province.
Raqqa is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about 160 kilometres east of Aleppo. It is located 40 kilometres east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and bishopric Callinicum was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate between 796 and 809, under the reign of Harun al-Rashid. It was also the capital of the Islamic State from 2014 to 2017. With a population of 531,952 based on the 2021 official census, Raqqa is the sixth largest city in Syria.
The mass media in Syria consists primarily of television, radio, Internet, film and print. The national language of Syria is Arabic but some publications and broadcasts are also available in English and French. While television is the most popular medium in Syria, the Internet has become a widely utilized vehicle to disseminate content. Transcending all available media, the government seeks to control what Syrians see by restricting coverage from outside sources. Publications and broadcasts are monitored by members of the government. Syria is ranked as one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. There were 28 journalists killed in combat in 2012.
Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa was a rebel group in the Syrian Civil War. It was formed in September 2012 in the Raqqa Governorate. Aligned with jihadist factions for its first years, at the end of 2015, it joined the Syrian Democratic Forces. During an interview by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi in 2015, Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa's media director stated that the group wants a "civil democratic state". He also claimed that the group had no relations with the Syrian National Coalition based in Turkey.
The 2014 Eastern Syria offensive was an offensive launched by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant against government-held military installations in eastern Syria during the Syrian Civil War, after expelling the Syrian rebels from the region. The offensive is considered to be the largest military attack against the Syrian government launched by ISIL since its establishment. It is also considered to be a reaction to Syrian Army military operations against ISIL positions in eastern Syria.
Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently is a citizen journalist group reporting Syrian war news and human rights abuses by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and other forces occupying the northern Syrian city of Raqqa which ISIL used as its de facto capital. RBSS works to counter the suggestion that citizens of Raqqa welcomed the presence of ISIL. Some sources described the group as one of the few reliable sources of information from the city. It was founded by Abu Ibrahim a-Raqqawi. RBSS has described itself as an "nonpartisan and independent" news page.
The Jordanian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War began on 22 September 2014, with airstrikes on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets, and escalated after the murder on Muath al-Kasasbeh, a captured Jordanian pilot, by ISIL, in early 2015. Though Jordan's strikes in Syria largely tapered off after December 2015, airstrikes have continued through February 2017, and Jordan has continued to support rebel groups in Syria and host military activities of other countries.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is the official defence force of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). An alliance of forces formed during the Syrian civil war composed primarily of Kurdish, Arab, and Assyrian/Syriac, as well as some smaller Armenian, Turkmen and Chechen forces. It is militarily led by the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish military force, and also includes several ethnic militias, as well as elements of the Syrian opposition's Free Syrian Army. Founded in October 2015, the SDF states its mission as fighting to create a secular, democratic and federalised Syria.
Naji al Jerf, also known as "Uncle", a Syrian journalist, filmmaker, editor and both a co-founder and filmmaker for the organization Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently in Gaziantep, Turkey, was known for his reporting about ISIS and uncovering their secrets before he was assassinated.
Khalaf Ali Alkhalaf ; born 10 November 1969 in Raqqa, is a poet and writer holds Swedish nationality. He lived in Saudi Arabia from 1993 until 2001, then in the same year he moved to Greece and stayed there until the summer of 2002. He went back to Syria and returned to Saudi Arabia again. In the spring of 2008, he left Saudi Arabia, went to Egypt and stayed in Alexandria.
Ruqia Hassan Mohammed, also known by her pen name Nissan Ibrahim, was a Syrian independent journalist and blogger based in Raqqa, Syria. She was a member of the activist group known as Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, and wrote frequently under the pen name Nissan Ibrahim. She is thought to be the first identified female citizen journalist executed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Abdalaziz Alhamza, is a Syrian journalist, human rights defender activist and IT trainer. Alhamza is an International Security Program fellow at New America (organization), he is also a fellow and Next Generation Leader at the McCain Institute., He is the CEO and one of the leaders of The NewNow which is a global group of rising leaders tackling the world’s toughest challenges. He is also the founder and spokesperson of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS) which is a nonpartisan, independent organization that exposes the atrocities committed by ISIS & other groups in Syria as well as the Syrian government. Alhamza started non-volatile protests and demonstrations against the Syrian government in 2011 and was arrested by the government three times in 2012. The Islamic State Group (ISIS) interrogated him more than one time about his activism. After ISIS took control of his hometown, Raqqa in January 2014, he escaped to Turkey and started Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS) with his friends to show the reality of life in Raqqa and ISIS. Alhamza was awarded the Wonder of Humanity award by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite. in 2015, Alhamza received CPJ International Press Freedom Awards by the Committee to Protect Journalists and was named a Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy. In 2016, he has awarded the Ischia International Journalism Award, Civil Courage Prize and other awards on behalf of RBSS. Alhamza was featured in “City of Ghosts” a documentary that followed the Journey of Alhamza and his colleagues. Alhamza graduated with a degree in biochemistry from the faculty of science in Raqqa which is part of Al-Furat University.
The Raqqa campaign was a military operation launched in November 2016 during the Rojava–Islamist conflict by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Raqqa Governorate, with the goal of isolating and eventually capturing the Islamic State's capital city, Raqqa. The SDF's subsidiary goals included capturing the Tabqa Dam, the nearby city of al-Thawrah, and the Baath Dam further downstream. The campaign ended successfully in October 2017, with the capture of Raqqa.
The Battle of Raqqa (2017), also known as the Second Battle of Raqqa, was the fifth and final phase of the Raqqa campaign (2016–17) launched by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the Islamic State (ISIL) with an aim to seize the city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of ISIL since 2014. The battle began on 6 June 2017, and was supported by airstrikes and ground troops from the US-led coalition. The operation was named the "Great Battle" by the SDF. It concluded on 17 October 2017, with the SDF fully capturing the city of Raqqa.
I Was in Raqqa is a book about Mohamed Fahem, a former member of Islamic State (ISIS), written by Hedi Yahmed. Fahem is a Tunisian jihadist who joined ISIS in November 2015.
Opposition–ISIL conflict during the Syrian Civil War started after fighting erupted between Syrian opposition groups and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). In early January 2014, serious clashes between the groups erupted in the north of the country. Opposition groups near Aleppo attacked ISIL in two areas, Atarib and Anadan, which were both strongholds of the fundamentalist Sunni organization. Despite the conflict between ISIL and other rebels, one faction of ISIL has cooperated with the al-Nusra Front and the Green Battalion to combat Hezbollah in the Battle of Qalamoun. By 2018, the Islamic State was destroyed in the territories held by the opposition.
The Eastern Syria insurgency is an armed insurgency being waged by remnants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and both pro and anti-Syrian government Arab nationalist insurgents, against the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), its military, and their allies in the US-led Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF–OIR) coalition.
Souad Nawfal is a Syrian Muslim schoolteacher and activist who became known for her protests against Bashar al-Assad and the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria. She received the Homo Homini Award, a human rights award, in 2014.
The following is a timeline of the Syrian civil war for 2022. Information about aggregated casualty counts is found at Casualties of the Syrian civil war.
Syria