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DAMASCUS, Oct. 17-- The defeat of the Islamic State (IS) group in its main stronghold in Syria's Raqqa province has dealt a strong blow to terrorism in Syria and the region, analysts said. The IS has lost its de facto capital of Raqqa to the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday, the first major defeat to the terror-designated group in the heartland of its control in northern Syria since its self-styled caliphate announced in 2017 in Syria. Talal Silo, the spokesman of the SDF, told Xinhua on Tuesday that the military operations against the IS in Raqqa have ended, adding that the city is liberated from the IS, but the SDF forces are mopping up the city in search of possible sleeper cells and mines. Finally, gone are the days of the beheading and the gruesome killings on cameras, as the IS militants are now running for their lives, whether following their downfall in Raqqa, or in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, where the Syrian army and allied fighters are advancing. By losing Raqqa, the IS has tasted the bitterness of loss, and sure this big defeat has mentally affected the group's coherence. Hmaidi Abdullah, a Syrian political analyst, told Xinhua that defeating the IS in Raqqa is positive, regardless of who made this victory. "Without a doubt, liberating Raqqa from Daesh constitutes a big blow to the terrorist groups, in terms of their actual existence," he told Xinhua, using the Arabic acronym for the IS. | 
