Militants warn Syrian dam at risk of collapse Opposition coalition calls on US to spare civilians

BEIRUT: US-backed KurdishArab alliance on Sunday entered a military airport held by Daesh in northern Syria while the militant group warned the Tabqa dam is at imminent risk of collapse because of airstrikes and increased water levels.

The advance by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tabqa airbase comes as the alliance prepares an attack on Daesh’s de facto Syrian capital Raqqa, seeking to effectively surround the city before launching its assault.

SDF has also captured the town of Karama as it prepares for an assault on the Daesh stronghold of Raqqa that it expects to take place in early April, it said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Daesh issued messages carried on its social media channels that the dam’s operations had been put out of service and that all flood gates were closed.

The dam, on the Euphrates about 40 km upstream from Daesh’s stronghold of Raqqa, is the largest in Syria. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces has been battling to capture the dam from Daesh since Friday.

The Syrian National Coalition (SNC) said on Monday it is “increas- ingly concerned” about civilian casualties in the campaign against the extremist group. The exiled opposition coalition is taking part in UN-mediated talks in Geneva.

The SNC said it believes coalition forces were behind an airstrike that killed at least 30 civilians sheltering in a school in the countryside outside Raqqa on March 21. The coalition has said it is investigating.

The US has provided substantial air and ground support to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, who are closing in on Raqqa.

The SDF has trapped Raqqa in a shrinking pocket of territory on the northern bank of the Euphrates and has advanced toward it in a multi-pronged offensive over several months.

Dejwar Khabat, a field commander with the SDF, said he expects the assault on Raqqa to begin in early April, affirming a timeline reported by Reuters earlier this month, after the US-backed militia closes the gap on the city on more fronts.

He was answering Reuters questions in a press conference with local reporters in Karama, the last significant town to the east of Raqqa, which lies about 18km away along the Euphrates. Another thrust of the SDF advance has already reached a few kilometers from Raqqa in the northeast.