BEIRUT – The Latest on developments in Syria (all times local):
11:15 a.m.
Russia's military says a recent travel warning by the U.S. State Department proves Moscow's argument that Syrian militants — and not the Syrian government — have used chemical weapons.
The U.S. State Department issued a travel warning on Wednesday, saying that the tactics of the extremists in Syria include the use of chemical weapons among other things.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Friday that the travel warning proves Moscow's point that the extremists, not the Syrian government, are to blame for a deadly chemical weapons attack in a town in Syria's east.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons earlier this month said it had found traces of sarin following an attack in northern Syria in March, days before a deadly strike using the same nerve agent in Khan Sheikhoun. The government has denied responsibility for that attack.
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10:50 a.m.
A U.S.-backed Syrian force is expected to declare victory in the northern city of Raqqa days after it said it cleared it from members of the Islamic State group.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces is scheduled to hold a news conference at noon Friday during which the city will be declared free of extremists.
The SDF is also expected to hand over authority in the city to a local council and a 3,000-member police force made up mostly of residents of Raqqa province.
The fall of Raqqa marks a major defeat for IS, which has seen its territories steadily shrink since last year. IS took over Raqqa, located on the Euphrates River, in January 2014, and transformed it into the epicenter of its brutal rule.
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