Syrian Democratic Forces liberate Raqqa from ISIL

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, captured the hospital in Raqqa (Raqqa) overnight, leaving the area around the city stadium as the last stronghold of the jihadists of the so-called Islamic State in their former capital, world media report, according to the Patria agency.

The fall of Raqqa, a city where jihadists organized victory parades after major military successes in 2014, is the biggest symbol of IS's downfall.

Islamists in the city still hold only a narrow strip of territory around the stadium, where they have been completely surrounded by SDF fighters.

IS has lost huge territory in Iraq this year, including Mosul, the most important city they controlled there, and in Syria, jihadists have been forced to retreat to a narrow strip in the Euphrates Valley and the surrounding desert.

SDF spokesperson Mustafa Bali said that Kurdish and Arab coalition forces captured the city hospital overnight after fierce clashes.

It is estimated that only about a hundred fighters, almost exclusively foreign mercenaries, remain in IS's pocket around the stadium.

SDF launched the final assault on Raqqa on Sunday. Raqqa was the first major Syrian city to fall into the hands of IS, from where the jihadists began their campaigns against the rest of Syria and Iraq and the declaration of a "caliphate".