US-backed forces begin assault on Isil-held Raqqa as scores of jihadis surrender

US-backed forces have commenced their assault on the last Isil-held districts of Raqqa after hundreds of Isil fighters and their families surrendered or fled the group's self-proclaimed capital. In the hours preceding Sunday’s final push on Raqqa, some 275 militants and their families surrendered to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of Arab and Kurdish militias operating with hands-on US support. A day earlier, under an agreement brokered by local tribesmen and