Kurds capture dam from militants

TABQA, Syria — U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces say they have captured the country’s largest dam and a nearby town from the Islamic State.

The fighters known as Syrian Democratic Forces, which are mostly Kurdish-led but also include Arab fighters, say they expelled Islamic State militants from the Tabqa Dam and the nearby town, also called Tabqa, on Wednesday.

Tabqa is the latest Islamic State stronghold to fall to the Kurdishled opposition fighters as they advance toward the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa — the seat of the militants’ so-called caliphate along the Euphrates River.

The fall of Tabqa leaves no other major urban settlements on the road to Raqqa, about 25 miles, away.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he hopes the United States will reverse its decision to arm Syrian Kurdish fighters perceived as terrorists by Ankara.

Erdogan also called on the United States to stand alongside a NATO ally — Turkey — and reverse its decision on arming the Kurds before his upcoming visit to Washington.

The Turkish president’s remarks on Wednesday came a day after the U.S. announced it would arm Syrian Kurdish fighters as a necessary step to recapture Raqqa.

Erdogan says the “fight against terrorism should not be led with another terror organization” and that “we want to know that our allies will side with us and not with terror organizations.”

Ankara considers the Syrian Kurds as an extension of Kurdish rebels in Turkey that have led a three-decadelong insurgency against the authorities.

Also on Wednesday, Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik said it’s out of the question for Turkey to support any operation involving the Syrian Kurdish fighters.