BEIRUT: A US-backed alliance of Arab-Kurdish forces entered the key jihadist-held town of Tabqa on Monday as they pursued their campaign against the militant Islamic State group in northern Syria. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have set their sights on Tabqa and the adjacent dam as part of their broader offensive for the city of Raqa, the Syrian heart of the jihadists’ self-styled “caliphate” since 2014. Supported by US-led coalition air strikes and special forces advisers, the SDF surrounded Tabqa in early April.

On Monday, they entered it for the first time, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. “They seized control of several points in the town’s south and were advancing on its western edges,” said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

He said US-led coalition war planes were carrying out “intense” strikes in support of the offensive, but that one raid had killed three women and five children trying to flee Tabqa. “One raid killed eight civilians from a single family, including five children, who were trying to escape in their car via the town’s southwest,” Abdel Rahman said.

In an online statement, the SDF said it had captured IS-held positions in west Tabqa, including a roundabout, and part of a southern district. “There are now clearing operations in the liberated positions,” the SDF said.

Tabqa sits on a key supply route about 55 kilometres west of Raqa, and served as an important IS command base, housing the group’s main prison.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2017