Natasha Bertrand

The US-led coalition has begun a new “mess-with-them” campaign that
involves dropping leaflets on ISIS’ de facto capital of Raqqa, Syria,
urging residents to leave the city, The Daily Beast’s Nancy Youssef reported on Friday.

“The time … has arrived. It’s time to leave Raqqa,” read one of
the leaflets, which was posted on Twitter by a Raqqa resident on
Thursday.The leaflets initially raised speculation that
the US-led anti-ISIS coalition was planning an assault on Raqqa, which
has served as the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria since June
2014.

But Pentagon officials confirmed to The Daily Beast that there was no imminent, US-led offensive being planned: “It’s part of our mess-with-them campaign,” a Pentagon official told The Beast.

As the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG)
march toward Raqqa from northeastern Syria, the US is trying to exploit
ISIS’ paranoia about losing the city to Kurdish-dominated forces.

Adding to that paranoia is the amount of territory ISIS has apparently already lost. At a Pentagon briefing last Wednesday, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Col. Steve Warren said the group has
lost 45% of the territory it once controlled in Iraq and 30% to 35% of
the populated areas it once held across its self-proclaimed “caliphate”
in Iraq and Syria.

“This enemy has really suffered a
string of defeats on the battlefield,” Warren said. “Nothing they have
done in the past few months has really been effective.”

The Sunni extremist group has
consequently begun using suicide bombings in predominantly Shiite areas —
such as Shiite enclaves in Baghdad and Sayyidah Zaynab outside Damascus — with more frequency to project an image of strength and power.