In a video statement posted on Gifford\u2019s Facebook page on Monday night, the former currency trader-turned-soldier asked the international community to maintain its military support to force the terrorist group out of its de facto capital, which it seized in 2014.<\/p>\n
SDF forces have now breached the walls of Raqqa\u2019s Old City, the US military reported on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Gifford, a former Conservative Party councilor, also called for humanitarian aid to protect civilians fleeing the battle and for political assistance to foster democratic institutions once the group has been expelled.<\/p>\n
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In the video, recorded three days earlier, the crack of sniper fire can be heard as Gifford describes the battle unfolding in the city streets. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEvery single night we are doing something, and even during the day we\u2019re calling in airstrikes, shooting back, we\u2019ve got our own snipers who are very, very talented, which are whittling down ISIS\u2019s numbers and making their defeat much more likely.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to take a long while because we\u2019ve got to root them out. There\u2019s a lot of snipers as you just heard; there\u2019s a lot of IEDs [improvised explosive devices] as well, and that\u2019s pretty much our biggest challenge. It\u2019s finding, isolating these snipers, pinning them down, calling in airstrikes, avoiding during the night the IEDs and other things that plague the city.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Gifford, who says he is fighting with a unit of Christian fighters, says air support has been critical to their operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the main messages I have for the coalition is to keep up the airstrikes<\/a>. It\u2019s incredible. I\u2019ve never seen so many airstrikes in the city. Every other seemingly minute, maybe every hour, there is an airstrike at some point in the city, and I think there are more facilitators on the ground\u2026 more drones in the sky. So the power projection the YPG [Kurdish militia] and the SDF is able to put over the city is incredibly strong, it\u2019s doing wonders and saved many, many lives.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
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