STRONGHOLD WRENCHED FROM ISIS
BEIRUT — The capture of a key Syrian town and a nearby dam from Islamic State group militants undermines the extremist group’s ability to defend its de facto capital, Raqqa, and disrupts its ability to plan attacks in Western countries, the U.S.-led international coalition said yesterday.
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 yesterday of land mines, the militants’ favorite weapon.
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 the planning of such operations after the militants lost other territories in northern Syria.
The capture of Tabqa sets the stage for an advance on Raqqa, about 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 IS.
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 the Trump 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 SDF has captured large swathes of land in northern Syria from IS with the help of U.S.-led airstrikes.
In the statement yesterday, the international coalition said with the capture of Tabqa, the SDF has further isolated Raqqa and “will continue to pursue the military defeat” of IS throughout Syria.
The statement said that in the final days of the battle, around 70 IS fighters withdrew from the town, leaving heavy weapons behind them. The move allowed for the dismantling of land mines around the dam, averting a humanitarian disaster.
Dorrian said 30,000 residents had been displaced since the fight for Tabqa began on March 21, and that the priority was now to protect those who remained.