In late October 2016, the United States Secretary of Defense Ash Carter called for an offensive on Raqqa to take place concurrent with the Battle of Mosul in Iraq.

[99] On 6 November, the SDF captured six small villages, Wahid, Umm Safa, Wasita, Haran, al-Adriyah and Jurah, south and southeast of Ayn Issa.

[101] By 11 November, the SDF had captured over a dozen villages and the strategically significant town of Al-Hisbah, which had served as a local headquarters and command center for ISIL.

[127] The SDF launched the second phase on 10 December, with the aim of capturing the northwestern and western countryside of Raqqa and ultimately reaching and securing the Tabqa Dam.

The same day, it was announced that Arab SDF groups, consisting of the Elite Forces, Jabhat Thuwar al-Raqqa and the newly formed Deir Ezzor Military Council would be taking part.

In response to these territorial losses, ISIL began to carry out more suicide attacks against both the SDF as well as civilian targets within SDF-controlled areas in an attempt to hinder the offensive.

[32][31] Meanwhile, the Amaq News Agency declared that Iman Na'im Tandil (nom de guerre: Abu 'Umar Al-Hindi), one of the few Indian ISIL fighters active in Syria, had also been killed during the fighting near Jabar.

[162] Mahmud al-Isawi, a senior ISIL manager of finances for the group's leaders who also worked in propaganda and intelligence-gathering, was killed on 31 December in a US-led coalition airstrike on Raqqa.

[206] On 19 January, ISIL launched a counter-attack against Suwaydiya Saghirah, supported by mortars and heavy machine guns, killing or wounding several YPG fighters.

On 23 January, the SDF began to advance on the Tabqa Dam, spurring ISIL to open its turbines to raise the Euphrates River's water levels.

[219] Meanwhile, the leader of the SDF-aligned Syria's Tomorrow Movement and its paramilitary wing, Ahmad Jarba, announced that 3,000 Arab fighters under his command were training with US special forces to be deployed in the battle for Raqqa against ISIL.

[225] On the next day, the Kurdish-led forces captured another two villages along with a hamlet and two farms, and besieged Bir Said,[226][227] while especially intense airstrikes hit several ISIL targets in Al-Thawrah.

[233] In early February 2017, US-led coalition airstrikes destroyed much of the Deir ez-Zor-Raqqa highway, reducing it to a single-file gravel road in some spots, with the SDF patrolling other areas with minefields, in order to prevent ISIL from reinforcing Raqqa city.

[275] Later that day, it was reported that the SDF had captured the village of Al-Kubar, on the northern bank of the Euphrates in the Deir ez-Zor countryside, further tightening the siege on Raqqa.

[286][287] On 8 March, the SDF took control of the strategic West Menxer hill in the eastern countryside,[288] while elements of the US 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit were deployed to northern Syria, bringing with them an artillery battery of M777 howitzers to support the attack on Raqqa.

[61] Meanwhile, about 150 ISIL militants from Hama and Deir ez-Zor managed to reinforce Raqqa, by crossing the Euphrates, despite the partial siege that had been imposed by the SDF on the city.

The advance of the SDF put them in control of the land region used by ISIL to connect to their territories in the east, stretching from al-Kubar to the northern bank of the Euphrates and measuring 30 kilometres (19 mi).

[345][346] SDF however denied that it had been hit, while RIBSS (Raqqa is Silently Being Slaughtered) stated that ISIL was informing fleeing civilians that the dam was safe.

[378][379] On 6 April 2017, US Special Forces carried out a raid near the city of Mayadin, in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate, killing Abdul Rahman al-Uzbeki, a high-ranking ISIL commander who was believed to have masterminded the 2017 Istanbul New Year terror attack.

[380] The SDF captured Ibad village, to the east of Safsafah, on 9 April, further expanding their control in eastern countryside of Tabqa, while more than 25 ISIL fighters were killed in the clashes.

[423] Meanwhile, the YPG also threatened to withdraw from the operation to capture Raqqa, if the United States didn't take measures to stop Turkey's attacks against the group.

[428] On 2 May SDF stated that it had captured about 90 percent of the town[429] amid reports of negotiations between Kurdish fighters and ISIL to allow the latter to withdraw from the remaining areas under its control.

[432][434] SDF and its commanders however denied any deal had been reached, adding that clashes were still ongoing against ISIL in a village near Tabqa and the three northern districts of the town including some militants who were hiding among civilians.

[489] On June 12, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), led by the Tiger Forces, began an offensive on ISIL positions in the western countryside of Raqqa, south of the town of Maskanah, which it recently captured, toward the Ithriya-Tabqa highway, aiming to secure its main supply route to Aleppo.

SDC co-chair Îlham Ehmed said "such an administration could provide a good example for democratic change in Raqqa, especially that the city has been for years a de facto capital for the ISIS terrorist group.

"[496] On 8 December, Col. John Dorrian, the Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman, stated that "a governance structure representative of the local population" similar to that in Manbij is planned for Raqqa.

[127] On 27 March 2017, Salih Muslim Muhammad, co-chairman of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), said that as soon as the SDF had captured the city, "the people of Raqqa are the ones who [will] take the decision on everything".

During the meeting of delegates including representatives from Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen; co-chairs Layla Mohammed and Mahmoud Shawakh al-Busran[500] were elected and 14 committees were established.

[507] On 17 May 2017, the Raqqa Internal Security Forces (RISF) were established as new police unit, with the first training course being set up in Ayn Issa; their purpose is to provide law and order in the areas captured from ISIL during the campaign.

[509] In a ceremony on the same day, SDF handed over administration of Raqqa city to the civil council while the 3,000-strong United States-trained police force was tasked with governance and security.