US-backed fighters are closing in on the ISIS-held city of Raqqa, Syria, and the operation to retake the city is coming, a spokesman for the US-led coalition said Tuesday. Air Force Col. John Dorrian, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, said “ultimately we are isolating Raqqa and we are going to, at a time that our partners choose, move in and liberate that city,” according to Reuters. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have been pressing further into Syria toward Raqqa, which ISIS claims is the capital of its self-proclaimed caliphate. The city is now surrounded from three sides, according to AP.
The last remaining T-1 Jayhawk at JBSA-Randolph, Texas, took its final flight to the "Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., on July 15. The 99th Flying Training Squadron will train pilots using T-6 and simulator until it gets T-7 Red Hawk in fiscal 2026.