IS loses power in one-time stronghold of Raqqa

After a five-month onslaught backed by US airstrikes, the Syrian Democratic Forces say they have taken full control of Raqqa from the Islamic State. The western backed troops drove IS fighters from their last holdouts this morning, freeing the remaining civilians who had been trapped inside. IS’s capital was one of the final bastions of their now shattered self-styled “caliphate” that once extended across swathes of Syria and Iraq.