Homecooked meals, ice cream offer relief from Syria Raqa fight On a day off from the Raqa front line, Syrian fighter Iskandar was busy chopping up chicken and garlic cloves for a steaming pot of homecooked mulukhiyah stew. He and comrades from the US-backed SDF have been battling Islamic State group jihadists for control of Raqa, the de facto capital of IS's Syrian territory since 2014. After long stretches away from home, Iskandar and his comrades have grown nostalgic for a traditional meal.