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 today 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.
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 US-led airstrikes.
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"From our side, we want to keep good neighborly relations with Turkey," Redur Khalil said in a series of messages from Syria.
He called on Turkey to let go of its "unjustified" fears of the group.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the U.S. to reverse its decision, saying weapons in the hands of the Kurdish-led forces are a "threat" to his country. Unnerved by the Kurdish advances along the border, Turkey sent troops into Syria last year to help allied Syrian forces battle IS and block the SDF.
Ankara views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has been waging a decades-old insurgency in Turkey. The US and other Western nations also view the PKK as a terrorist group.
In the statement today, the international coalition said with the capture of Tabqa, the SDF has further isolated Raqqa and "will continue to pursue the military defeat" of IS throughout Syria.
The statement said that in the final days of the battle, around 70 IS fighters withdrew from the town, leaving heavy weapons behind them. The move allowed for the dismantling of land mines around the dam, averting a humanitarian disaster. Concerns were raised earlier this year that the dam could be damaged in the fighting or degraded by lack of maintenance, or that the extremists might sabotage it to flood the surrounding areas.
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