The US has said that leaders of the Islamic State terror group are fleeing their Syrian stronghold of Raqa, in the face of the Arab-Kurd offensive backed by the international coalition. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters that a lot of their administrators and bureaucrats now are beginning the process of leaving Raqqa and we are seeing now an exodus of their leadership.<br/><br/>A US-backed alliance of Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters also said that it was launching new attacks against Islamic State, after capturing dozens of villages in the latest phase of a battle to weaken the jihadists in their Syrian strongholds.<br/><br/>After a string of major losses in both Iraq and Syria, the jihadists' two main strongholds of Mosul and Raqa are both under attack from forces backed by a US-led coalition.