Coalition wins airfield barrier at Raqqa

amman/beirut - The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday captured a former military airport near the city Taqba in Syria on the group Islamic State. Taqba located about 40 kilometers west of Raqqa, the capital of the caliphate declared by IS.

Around there is also a dam on the Euphrates River. IS had earlier Sunday knowing that the dam was not working anymore and that all slides were closed. By air strikes and the rising water behind the dam it could collapse. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on the basis of its own sources that the dam was not working, but that IS the most important buildings and turbines had owned.

The SDF, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias supported by an international coalition led by the United States, opened Friday an attack to conquer the dam. The SDF would have made some gains, but the advance is difficult because IS laid mines throughout the area.