ISIS Claims Attack on U.S.-Backed Troops in Syria

ISIS claimed responsibility on Friday for an attack on U.S.-backed forces near Raqqa, the militant group’s de-facto capital in Syria. The attack took place on Thursday as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters advanced into an ISIS stronghold in the Homs province. ISIS claimed that two armored vehicles were destroyed and 53 members of the SDF were killed in the attack, though an SDF spokeswoman, Nisreen Abdullah, said their estimate was exaggerated. Telling reporters that ISIS was “facing collapse” in Raqqa, Abdullah argued that the militant group had inflated the death toll in order to “boost the morale of its fighters.”