ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have surrounded the town of al-Tabqa west of Raqqa, after fierce clashes with ISIS that resulted in multiple casualties.
ISIS twice attempted to break through the SDF’s siege on the town on Saturday. “After the failure of the terrorists on Saturday morning, the terrorists resumed their attack to break out in the afternoon,” the SDF stated.
The SDF claim to have the bodies of 24 ISIS militants and say the group was unsuccessful in breaking the siege, but added that violent clashes were ongoing Saturday evening.
The conflict monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that clashes occurred in the al-Tabqa area. The Observatory reported that two car bombs exploded in the area and coalition warplanes were carrying out airstrikes.
ISIS issued a statement through its media outlet Amaq claiming to have killed 65 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters in surprise attacks east and west of Raqqa.
The SDF took control of Tabqa airbase on Monday, reporting that the runway was heavily damaged. US engineers were working on repairing it, VOA reported, citing officials.
The US also provided more military equipment, including arms and ammunition, to the SDF this week. A convoy entered Rojava, northern Syria from the Kurdistan Region on Tuesday.
As fighting intensifies around Raqqa and an offensive is expected to be launched this month on the city, civilians are fleeing in greater numbers. Hundreds escaped Raqqa and are now staying at a camp in Ain Issa, under control of the SDF north of the city, AFP reported.
“The hisbah [religious police] announced over the megaphones ‘the land of Muslims will be flooded, the Tabqa dam has collapsed,’” Mohammad Mahmoud, told AFP his reasons for paying $1,000 to a smuggler to flee the city with his family. “I was so afraid, I couldn’t think straight.”
The UN is concerned about getting aid to the displaced populations. “Raqqa of course is currently not accessible to most aid organizations, the UN, or indeed aid workers,” the UN’s head of humanitarian relief Stephen O’Brien told Rudaw this week.
In Syria, the UN and other NGOs have been “extremely dependent upon trying to secure through negotiations safe, unimpeded access and this has been extraordinarily difficult to secure, and above all with the government of Syria,” O’Brien said, adding that they continue to push their point that all people must have access to humanitarian aid.
O’Brien estimated that there are 230,000 civilians in Raqqa city and hundreds of thousands more in the province, “we’re talking about tens of thousands who have already fled and the potential for fleeing, maybe as much as half a million. We don’t know for sure. But we have to do everything we can to prepare.”
On March 30, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) announced that their volunteer, Firas al-Hussein, died on Monday in the Tabqa area while carrying out work for the SARC.
A young boy cries in Ain Issa IDP camp. Photo: Delil Souleiman/AFP
ISIS twice attempted to break through the SDF’s siege on the town on Saturday. “After the failure of the terrorists on Saturday morning, the terrorists resumed their attack to break out in the afternoon,” the SDF stated.
The SDF claim to have the bodies of 24 ISIS militants and say the group was unsuccessful in breaking the siege, but added that violent clashes were ongoing Saturday evening.
The conflict monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that clashes occurred in the al-Tabqa area. The Observatory reported that two car bombs exploded in the area and coalition warplanes were carrying out airstrikes.
ISIS issued a statement through its media outlet Amaq claiming to have killed 65 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters in surprise attacks east and west of Raqqa.
The SDF took control of Tabqa airbase on Monday, reporting that the runway was heavily damaged. US engineers were working on repairing it, VOA reported, citing officials.
The US also provided more military equipment, including arms and ammunition, to the SDF this week. A convoy entered Rojava, northern Syria from the Kurdistan Region on Tuesday.
As fighting intensifies around Raqqa and an offensive is expected to be launched this month on the city, civilians are fleeing in greater numbers. Hundreds escaped Raqqa and are now staying at a camp in Ain Issa, under control of the SDF north of the city, AFP reported.
“The hisbah [religious police] announced over the megaphones ‘the land of Muslims will be flooded, the Tabqa dam has collapsed,’” Mohammad Mahmoud, told AFP his reasons for paying $1,000 to a smuggler to flee the city with his family. “I was so afraid, I couldn’t think straight.”
The UN is concerned about getting aid to the displaced populations. “Raqqa of course is currently not accessible to most aid organizations, the UN, or indeed aid workers,” the UN’s head of humanitarian relief Stephen O’Brien told Rudaw this week.
In Syria, the UN and other NGOs have been “extremely dependent upon trying to secure through negotiations safe, unimpeded access and this has been extraordinarily difficult to secure, and above all with the government of Syria,” O’Brien said, adding that they continue to push their point that all people must have access to humanitarian aid.
O’Brien estimated that there are 230,000 civilians in Raqqa city and hundreds of thousands more in the province, “we’re talking about tens of thousands who have already fled and the potential for fleeing, maybe as much as half a million. We don’t know for sure. But we have to do everything we can to prepare.”
On March 30, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) announced that their volunteer, Firas al-Hussein, died on Monday in the Tabqa area while carrying out work for the SARC.
A young boy cries in Ain Issa IDP camp. Photo: Delil Souleiman/AFP
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