Private, Baladi News
Regime forces cheered for the battle it launched south of Al-Raqqah city seeking to reach the southern part of it. It seems that there is an American-Russian plan to attack the city and it started to manifest through attacking Manbij and the concurrent attack on Al-Raqqah from the south.
Regime forces seek to use the desert road between Ithriyah and Al-Tabqah which is relatively exposed to the various Russian and American means of reconnaissance which will help them explore the desert more and destroy the targets that are hard to be camouflaged in such an environment in an attempt to repeat the scenario of the battel of Palmyra in the southern part of Al-Raqqah city. However, the battle is still in its beginning, as the regime is still trying to advance more than 120 km till it reaches the outskirts of the city of Al-Raqqah.
The US-Russian plan requires surrounding the city of Al-Raqqah from the south as well as attacking it from the north and at the same time separating the eastern and northern countryside of Aleppo from Deir Al-Zor and Al-Raqqah through attacking Manbij and seizing control lately on Al-Tabkah city by regime forces who consider it to be "their first revenge".
Seizing control of the "Mountain"
It seems that the regime is trying to repeat the scenario of Deir Al-Zor in Al-Raqqah as the city of Deir Al-Zor is squeezed between a mountain with an altitude of nearly 150 meters above the ground and the tributaries of Euphrates where the Syrian regime controlled the mountain since the very beginning and set up its artillery as well as its geometric fortifications. The mountain overlooks the entire city and allows the regime to bombard all of its neighborhoods either directly or indirectly as it was behind preventing the rebels and ISIS from controlling the city.
The regime's attack from the southern part of Al-Raqqah comes in an attempt to reach a higher region south of the city extending between Al-Ratlah from the east and Al-Sahal pumping station from the west (which rises 300 m above sea level) that will give the regime the same advantages it took from the mountain of Deir Al-Zor. Moreover, it extends before an area of farms and orchards which allows the regime to detect any attack on the area, especially car bombs.
Once the regime reaches there, nearly half of the city becomes under the direct fires of the artillery and tanks and the whole city will become in the artillery and mortars range of about 120 calibers and above, along with cutting the road connecting Deir Al-Zor and Aleppo which is critical in the battel of the northern and eastern countryside of Aleppo.
The regime may intentionally extend this situation for months and possibly for more than a year, so it besieges the city, starves its civilians and displaces them later, in preparation for the end of the battle of Aleppo and then engaging in Al-Raqqah battle from two directions; Kurdish militias from the north and regime forces from the south.