Drone video shows devastation in Raqqa

Drone footage from the northern Syrian city of Raqqa shows the extent of devastation caused by weeks of fighting.

Central Raqqa after its liberation

Islamic State still pose a threat to the US even after being evicted from Raqqa, the CIA says. (AAP)

Drone footage from the northern Syrian city of Raqqa shows the extent of devastation caused by weeks of fighting between Kurdish-led forces and the Islamic State group.

Footage from Thursday shows the bombed-out shells of buildings and heaps of concrete slabs lay piled on streets littered with destroyed cars.

Entire neighbourhoods are seen turned to rubble, with little sign of civilian life.

The US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces announced they have driven Islamic State group militants out of the city after weeks of fighting.

The spokesman for the coalition, Colonel Ryan Dillon, tweeted that the SDF has cleared 98 per cent of the city, adding that some militants remain holed up in a small pocket east of the city's athletic stadium.

CIA director Mike Pompeo said IS militants still pose a threat to the US even after being evicted from Raqqa.

Pompeo said IS is capable of orchestrating and carrying out an attack, possibly downing a commercial plane.

"IS' capability to conduct an external operation remains," he said.

"But I wouldn't put them in a singular bucket. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has for a long time had this mission statement, which includes the taking down of a commercial airliner bound for a western country. Certainly, among those would be the United States."


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Published 20 October 2017 5:52pm
Source: AAP

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