Assault on IS bastion may take longer

WASHINGTON: After Iraqi security forces eventually recapture Mosul, the Islamic State (IS) group will be left with only Raqa in neighboring Syria as a bastion, and the jihadists’ self-proclaimed “caliphate” will be largely gone.

The US-led coalition has been striking IS across both countries for more than two years, and has long held Raqa in its sights—an IS defeat there would be a defining endpoint of the campaign.