A U.S.-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance advanced Wednesday to several kilometers from the largest prison held by the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria's northern province of Raqa, a monitor said.

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were eight kilometers (five miles) from the jail near the country's largest dam at Tabqa on the Euphrates River, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

On December 10, the SDF announced "phase two" of its campaign against IS' de facto Syrian capital of Raqa some 50 kilometers east of Tabqa in the same province.

The alliance has since captured dozens of villages and hamlets, the Observatory says, after taking 700 square kilometers (270 square miles) from the jihadists in a first phase of the assault from November 5.

Western hostages of the jihadist group are believed to have been held at the jail near the town of Tabqa, where top IS leaders live, the Britain-based Observatory said.

Kurdish officials told AFP on Wednesday that many of the jihadists had fled before the SDF advance.

IS fighters "have no more heavy weapons -- they are weakened and flee without resisting," said Moslem Sheikh Nouh, a commander with the alliance.

"IS is not resisting, absolutely not," she said, adding that the jihadists "take to their heels in flight."

The SDF is backed by air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition as well as by some U.S. forces on the ground.

Washington said this month it was sending 200 additional troops to join the 300 it has already deployed to support the Raqa campaign.

Despite recent setbacks, IS still controls areas of Syria and neighboring Iraq, where it has faced an offensive since October on its main bastion of Mosul.

This month, IS seized the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria for the second time, just eights months after President Bashar Assad's army backed by Russia drove the jihadists out.

IS overran large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, proclaiming Raqa the capital of its "caliphate", after Syria's war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. </s> BEIRUT, June 4 (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Syrian militias said they seized a major dam on the Euphrates river from Islamic State on Sunday, their latest gain as they push towards Raqqa city.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, said they captured the Baath Dam in the morning, renaming it Freedom Dam. The hydroelectric dam lies some 22 km upstream of Raqqa, Islamic State's base of operations in Syria.

The spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militia, the SDF's key component, said fighters were combing nearby villages for mines and shoring up their defensive lines. "The dam has been completely liberated," Nouri Mahmoud said.

The advance means the SDF now hold all three major dams along the Euphrates, after gaining control of Syria's largest dam last month.

With air strikes and special forces from the U.S.-led coalition, the SDF have been encircling Raqqa to take the city, which Islamic State has used as a hub to plan attacks abroad.

The alliance advanced in recent months to within several kilometres (miles) of the centre of Raqqa, facing fierce resistance from Islamic State. Fighting since late last year has displaced tens of thousands of people according to United Nations sources, with many flooding camps in the area.

The operation to storm the city will start in the next "few days", Mahmoud had said on Saturday. The Raqqa assault will pile more pressure on the jihadist group's self-declared "caliphate" as it faces defeat in the Iraqi city of Mosul and retreats across much of Syria.

Islamic State still controls swathes of Syria's eastern deserts bordering Iraq and most of Deir al-Zor province, which would be its last major foothold in Syria they lose Raqqa. (Reporting by Ellen Francis; Editing by Catherine Evans) </s> BEIRUT (AFP) - A US-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance advanced Wednesday (Dec 21) to several kilometres from the largest prison held by the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria's northern province of Raqa, a monitor said.

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were eight kilometres from the jail near the country's largest dam at Tabqa on the Euphrates River, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

On Dec 10, the SDF announced "phase two" of its campaign against ISIS's de facto Syrian capital of Raqa some 50 kilometres east of Tabqa in the same province.

The alliance has since captured dozens of villages and hamlets, the Observatory says, after taking 700 square kilometres from the jihadists in a first phase of the assault from Nov 5.

Western hostages of the jihadist group are believed to have been held at the jail near the town of Taqba, where top ISIS leaders live, the Britain-based Observatory said.

The SDF is backed by air strikes from a US-led coalition as well as by some US forces on the ground.

Washington said this month it was sending 200 additional troops to join the 300 it has already deployed to support the Raqa campaign.

Despite recent setbacks, ISIS still controls areas of Syria and neighbouring Iraq, where it has faced an offensive since October on its main bastion of Mosul.

This month, ISIS seized the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria for the second time, just eights months after President Bashar al-Assad's army backed by Russia drove the jihadists out.

ISIS overran large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, proclaiming Raqa the capital of its "caliphate", after Syria's war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. </s> BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S.-backed Syrian militias said they seized a major dam on the Euphrates river from Islamic State on Sunday, their latest gain as they push towards Raqqa city.

FILE PHOTO: Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters ride on vehicles in the north of Raqqa city, Syria February 5, 2017. REUTERS/Rodi Said/File Photo

The Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, said they captured the Baath Dam in the morning, renaming it Freedom Dam. The hydroelectric facility lies 22 kilometers upstream of Raqqa, where Islamic State’s operations in Syria are based.

The spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militia, the SDF’s key component, said fighters were combing nearby villages for mines and shoring up their defensive lines. “The dam has been completely liberated,” Nouri Mahmoud said.

The advance means the SDF now hold all three major dams along the Euphrates, after gaining control of Syria’s largest dam last month.

With air strikes and special forces from the U.S.-led coalition, the SDF have been encircling Raqqa, which Islamic State has used as a hub to plan attacks abroad.

The operation to storm the city will start in the next “few days”, Mahmoud said on Saturday. The Raqqa assault will pile more pressure on the jihadist group’s self-declared “caliphate” as it faces defeat in the Iraqi city of Mosul and retreats across much of Syria.

Islamic State still controls swathes of Syria’s eastern desert bordering Iraq and most of Deir al-Zor province, which would be its last major foothold in Syria after losing Raqqa.

The SDF has advanced in recent months to within several kilometers (miles) of the center of Raqqa, facing fierce resistance from Islamic State.

Fighting since late last year has displaced tens of thousands of people, United Nations sources say, with many flooding camps in the area and others stranded in the desert.

The U.N. human rights office has raised concerns about increasing reports of civilian deaths as air strikes escalate. The Raqqa campaign has “resulted in massive civilian casualties, displacement, and serious infrastructure destruction” so far, it said in a May report.

Islamic State militants have also reportedly forbidden civilians from leaving, it added.

The United States-led coalition says it is careful to avoid civilian casualties in its bombing runs in Syria and Iraq. </s> The US-led coalition have air-dropped ground forces near the Islamic State-held town of Tabqa in northern Syria, opening a new front in the campaign to capture the jihadist group’s nearby stronghold of Raqqa city.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday the US military had airlifted allied Syrian Arab militia fighters near Tabqa, providing them fire support in a move aimed at retaking a major dam that remains in the hands of Islamic State.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a militia alliance including Arab and Kurdish fighters, said US forces had deployed with them in the air drop, saying the operation also aimed to block any advance by government forces from the west.

A local official familiar with SDF operations said the airdrop took place on Tuesday.

The SDF, which also includes the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, is fighting to encircle Raqqa city with support from the US-led coalition, including air support and backing on the ground from US special forces.

The campaign to capture Raqqa from Islamic State appears to be gathering pace as an overlapping, US-backed effort in Iraq is drawing closer to driving the jihadist group from Mosul.

Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said U.S. air assets had been used to airlift members of the Syrian Arab Coalition, part of the SDF, in a bid to retake the Tabqa Dam. He did not provide details on the size of the forces moved or what type of fire support was provided.

The SDF, in a statement circulated on an official Telegram account, said: “American forces have conducted a landing operation for US ground forces, along with (SDF) special forces”.

The landing forces had seized four small villages in the area west of Tabqa and cut a main highway that links the provinces of Raqqa, Deir al-Zor and Aleppo, it said.

The local official familiar with SDF operations told Reuters the air-drop operation aimed to secure a crossing point for forces coming in boats across the Euphrates, which began arriving at dawn on Wednesday.

The official said the air drop was “a pioneering step”.

Islamic State captured the Tabqa Dam, also known as the Euphrates Dam, and a nearby major air base at the height of its expansion in Syria and Iraq in 2014. It is located about 40 km (25 miles) to the west of Raqqa city.

The head of the YPG told Reuters last week a final assault to capture Raqqa city from IS would begin at the start of April. The Pentagon said a decision had yet to be taken.

Turkey is pressing Washington for a role in the Raqqa campaign. Ankara is concerned about the growing influence of the YPG, seeing it as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought a three-decade insurgency in Turkey.

The SDF cut the last main road out of Raqqa earlier this month, narrowing in on the city from the north, east and west.

The only way in or out of Raqqa now is over the Euphrates River that borders the city to the south.

Air strikes by the US-led coalition near Raqqa have escalated this month, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based war monitoring group said an air strike killed at 33 people near Raqqa when it hit a school sheltering displaced people on Monday.

The Observatory said it believed the strike was carried out by the US-led coalition.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday that there were no indications that a strike near Raqqa had hit civilians, but that it would carry out further investigations.

Islamic State is losing ground to three separate campaigns in northern Syria – by the SDF, by the Russian-backed Syrian army and by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels </s> The Jabar citadel on the banks of Lake Assad was taken by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance on Thursday, militia spokesman Talal Silo said. It is located near a dam on the Euphrates River that the U.S.-backed alliance also aims to capture in the current phase of its campaign.

Maamoun Abdulkarim, the Syrian government's antiquities chief, told Reuters in Damascus the SDF's capture of the castle represented a "victory for the Syrian people because liberating the citadel from Daesh (IS) is saving Syrian heritage".

The SDF, which includes the powerful Kurdish YPG militia, is the main partner for the United States in the campaign it is leading against Islamic State in Syria. SDF forces are just a few kilometres (miles) from a major dam also held by IS.

Islamic State is also being fought in separate campaigns by the Russian-backed Syrian army in Deir al-Zor province and near the ancient town of Palmyra, which IS seized for a second time in December, and by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels in Aleppo province near the Syrian-Turkish border.

Silo said SDF advances had been slowed by thick fog that had allowed Islamic State insurgents to use infiltration tactics to attack SDF positions, he said. The weather had now improved, he added in an interview over the internet.

"The direction of our forces is towards the area of the dam at present," Silo said.

The SDF launched a multi-stage operation in Raqqa province in November aimed ultimately at capturing the city from Islamic State. The first phase gained territory to the north of the city and the current phase is targeting areas to the west of it. </s> Syrian Democratic Forces fighters ride on vehicles in the north of Raqqa city, Syria, February 5 (Reuters file photo)

BEIRUT — US-backed Syrian militias said they seized a major dam on the Euphrates River from the Daesh extremists on Sunday, their latest gain as they push towards Raqqa city.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, said they captured the Baath Dam in the morning, renaming it Freedom Dam. The hydroelectric facility lies 22 kilometres upstream of Raqqa, where the Daesh group’s operations in Syria are based.

The spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militia, the SDF’s key component, said fighters were combing nearby villages for mines and shoring up their defensive lines. “The dam has been completely liberated,” Nouri Mahmoud said.

The advance means the SDF now hold all three major dams along the Euphrates, after gaining control of Syria’s largest dam last month.

With air strikes and special forces from the US-led coalition, the SDF have been encircling Raqqa, which Daesh has used as a hub to plan attacks abroad.

The operation to storm the city will start in the next “few days”, Mahmoud said on Saturday. The Raqqa assault will pile more pressure on the extremist group’s self-declared “caliphate” as it faces defeat in the Iraqi city of Mosul and retreats across much of Syria.

The Daesh group still controls swathes of Syria’s eastern desert bordering Iraq and most of Deir Ezzor province, which would be its last major foothold in Syria after losing Raqqa.

The SDF has advanced in recent months to within several kilometres of the centre of Raqqa, facing fierce resistance from Daesh.

Fighting since late last year has displaced tens of thousands of people, United Nations sources say, with many flooding camps in the area and others stranded in the desert.

The UN human rights office has raised concerns about increasing reports of civilian deaths as air strikes escalate. The Raqqa campaign has “resulted in massive civilian casualties, displacement, and serious infrastructure destruction” so far, it said in a May report.

The Daesh militants have also reportedly forbidden civilians from leaving, it added.

The United States-led coalition says it is careful to avoid civilian casualties in its bombing runs in Syria and Iraq. </s> BEIRUT (Reuters) – U.S.-backed Syrian militias said they seized a major dam on the Euphrates river from Islamic State on Sunday, their latest gain as they push toward Raqqa city.

 Original Article </s> BEIRUT, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces Alliance reached an industrial zone miles to the east of Deir al-Zor city in rapid advances against Islamic State militants on Sunday, it said in a statement.

The SDF announced on Saturday it had launched an operation against the jihadists in northern and eastern parts of Deir al-Zor province, which borders Iraq.

The advances bring the SDF to within 15 km (10 miles) of the Syrian army and its allies, which this week broke a years-long Islamic State siege of government-held parts of Deir al-Zor on the other side of the Euphrates river. (Reporting by John Davison; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces advance to eight kilometers (five miles) from the largest prison held by ISIL near the Tabqa Dam.