Seizure of Syria town said to hinder ISIS

U.S.-led coalition: Militants lost a planning hub; stage set for assault on Raqqa

BEIRUT — The capture of a key Syrian town and a nearby dam from Islamic State militants undermines the extremist group’s ability to defend its declared capital, Raqqa, and disrupts its ability to plan attacks in Western countries, the U.S.-led international coalition said Thursday.

Tabqa and the nearby dam, Syria’s largest, were seized a day earlier by a coalition of Kurdish-led fighters in an offensive that lasted nearly seven weeks, with the backing of airstrikes from the international coalition. The fighters were clearing the town and the dam Thursday of land mines.

The fall of Tabqa also denies militants “a key coordination hub” that had been used by the group’s foreign fighters since 2013 to plan attacks against the West, the coalition said in a statement. Tabqa had served as a base for planning such operations after the militants lost other territories in northern Syria.

The capture of Tabqa sets the stage for an advance on Raqqa, some 25 miles to the east.

In a statement, coalition spokesman Col. John Dorrian described it as “yet another victory” for America’s ground force partners in the fight against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

He earlier said that after Tabqa is secured, the forces will continue operations to “isolate and seize Raqqa.”

The capture of Tabqa by the Kurdish-led alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces came a day after President Donald Trump’s administration announced it will supply the force with heavier weapons, a decision that infuriated Turkey, which views the main Kurdish militia in the group as an extension of an outlawed rebel movement fighting an insurgency in its southeast. The Democratic Forces has captured large areas in northern Syria from the Islamic State with the help of U.S.-led airstrikes.

The spokesman for the People’s Protection Units, the Kurdish militia that forms the backbone of the fighting force, said Thursday that his group will seek “neighborly relations” with Turkey.

“From our side, we want to keep good neighborly relations with Turkey,” Redur Khalil said in a series of messages from Syria.

He called on Turkey to let go of its “unjustified” fears of the group.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the U.S. to reverse its decision, saying weapons in the hands of the Kurdish-led forces are a “threat” to his country. Unnerved by the Kurdish advances along the border, Turkey sent troops into Syria last year to help allied Syrian forces battle the Islamic State and block the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The Trump administration says it will supply the Syrian Democratic Forces with heavier weapons ahead of a push on Raqqa. Talal Sillo, a commander with the Democratic Forces, said no weapons have yet been delivered to the group but that the U.S.-led coalition had said fast delivery was expected as the weapons are already in Syria with the coalition.

Ankara views the People’s Protection Units as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has been waging a decades-old insurgency in Turkey. The U.S. and other Western nations also view the Workers’ Party as a terrorist group.

Khalil dismissed the label, saying the U.S. would not supply arms to terrorists.

In the statement Thursday, the international coalition said that with the capture of Tabqa, the Syrian Democratic Forces has further isolated Raqqa and “will continue to pursue the military defeat” of the Islamic State throughout Syria.

The statement said that in the final days of the battle, about 70 Islamic State fighters withdrew from the town, leaving heavy weapons behind. The move allowed for the dismantling of land mines around the dam, averting a humanitarian disaster.

Concerns were raised earlier this year that the dam could be damaged in the fighting or degraded by lack of maintenance, or that the extremists might sabotage it to flood the surrounding areas.

Dorrian said 30,000 residents had been displaced since the fight for Tabqa began March 21 and that the priority was now to protect those who remained.

“From our side, we want to keep good neighborly relations with Turkey.” — Redur Khalil, the spokesman for the People’s Protection Units