ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — An alliance of militias backed by the United States have stormed the Tabqa military airport on Sunday, according to a Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spokesman.
"We expect to control the airport in the coming hours ... it's an exposed area and this will make it easy for our forces to liberate it," Reuters reported Talal Silo as saying.
"The SDF has taken control of more than 50 percent of Tabqa military airport. Fighting is ongoing inside the airport and its surroundings and full control of the airport is expected within the next few hours," Silo told AFP news agency.
"We expect to control the airport in the coming hours ... it's an exposed area and this will make it easy for our forces to liberate it," Reuters reported Talal Silo as saying.
"The SDF has taken control of more than 50 percent of Tabqa military airport. Fighting is ongoing inside the airport and its surroundings and full control of the airport is expected within the next few hours," Silo told AFP news agency.
The US-led international coalition to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria has been supporting the SDF, which is comprised of fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Syrian Arab Coalition (SAC).
Coalition helicopters airdropped US special forces and SDF fighters near Tabqa announced a statement on Wednesday from the SDF’s Wrath of Euphrates military campaign to isolate and liberate Raqqa.
The airbase is located on the southern outskirts of the ISIS-controlled city that is 40 kilometers west of Raqqa, while the Tabqa Dam sits to the north of the city on the Euphrates.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported earlier on Sunday that the dam had stopped functioning because of a power outage.
“The main turbines are still under the control the ‘Islamic State’ [ISIS] organization and that the Syria Democratic Forces were not able to control them until right now,” SOHR stated citing intersecting sources.
The spokesperson for the SDF’s Raqqa liberation campaign, Cihan Sheikh Ahmed, reported on social media that their forces had clashed with ISIS militants at the dam on Friday.
BBC on Sunday cited a source saying power to the dam had been partially restored.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment