The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Americans airlift in Syrian fighters behind IS defences
Syria: Bid to box in terrorist group
US aircraft have carried Syrian Kurdish fighters and allied forces behind Islamic State lines to spearhead an assault on a strategic town belonging to the extremist group.
The operation near Tabqa, outside Islamic State’s de facto capital, Raqqa, is the first time US forces have provided an airlift for local forces on a combat operation in Syria.
The airlift was part of what Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon described as a large, high-priority offensive to secure the area around Tabqa and the associated Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates River.
“This is a significant strategic target,” said Mr Pahon.
If successful, the operation would “basically cut Isis off” from the western approaches to Raqqa.
The US-backed, Kurdishled Syrian Democratic Forces said their fighters seized four villages south of the Euphrates and cut the main artery between Raqqa and north-western Syria.
The Pentagon said US military advisers were on the ground in the Tabqa area to help co-ordinate the operation, but said the airlift was for Syrian fighters only. It said no US troops were involved in fighting on the front line.
Tabqa lies 28 miles west of Raqqa.
“This is a big operation,” Mr Pahon said, adding that Tabqa is an important ISheld area because of the dam that provides electricity to the area.
He said Islamic State has controlled the area since 2013 and used it for a combination of purposes, including as a prison for high-profile hostages and as a training camp and headquarters.
Elsewhere in Syria, insurgents advanced on government-held towns and positions north of the central city of Hama.
An al Qaida-linked group spearheaded the assault, launched on Tuesday, by detonating a car bomb in the nearby town of Souran.
The activist-run Hama Media Centre said the rebels had reached the village of Khatab, six miles north-west of governmentheld Hama. State media reported fighting on the outskirts of the village and Souran.
“This is a significant strategic target”