Coalition: Capture of IS-held town in Syria undermines the group

Associated Press

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 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 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 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 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.