Syrian regime troops supported by Russian Federation and US-backed fighters pressed twin offensives against the Islamic State group Monday as pressure built on the jihadists’ northern strongholds in the war-torn country.
Advertisement
Men, who the Democratic Forces of Syria fighters claimed were Islamic State fighters, walk as they are taken prisoners after SDF advanced in the southern rural area of Manbij, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria May 31, 2016.
Raqqa is frequently targeted by the US -led coalition, as well as the Syrian and Russian air force.
On Monday, Russia s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov vowed air support around Aleppo for troops loyal to Syria s President Bashar al-Assad.
Around Tabqa in particular, the source told AFP, it would be “impossible” for the U.S. and Russian Federation to back their respective ground allies if they did not coordinate.
The insurgent advance will make it more hard for the army and its allies to encircle rebel-held parts of Aleppo city where intensified bombing in the last 24 hours has killed scores of civilians mainly by barrel bombing of residential areas. “Those were most likely defectors who escaped the fighting fronts in the south and east of the city”, media activist Alwan Halabi told ARA News, adding that a number of Sharia officials were among those who left Manbij on Tuesday.
The SDF in Syria are backed by US air strikes and a small contingent of American special forces.
Regime fighters are now within 24 kilometres (15 miles) of Lake Assad, the key reservoir in the Euphrates Valley contained by the Tabqa Dam, said the Britain-based Observatory.
A Syrian military source however said the army had advanced to the edge of Raqqa province, and not into it.
Washington has said United States forces are advising the SDF on the ground but not taking direct part in combat.
IS overran the town in early 2014, just months before gaining worldwide infamy by declaring a cross-border “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria. “There may be an element of informal, top-level coordination to avoid any confusion or inadvertent clashes, but full coordination is unlikely”, Matthew Henman, the head of IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Research Centre told AFP.
Manbij lies at the heart of IS-held territory along the border that U.S. commanders regard as the principal entry point for foreign fighters and funds.
The government is making a “low-cost investment” to position itself near Raqqa and “message its involvement in the [Islamic State] campaign, to bolster its worldwide credibility”, said Christopher Kozak, a Syria analyst at the Institute for the Study of War.
The strikes hit a popular market on Monday in the IS-held town of Al-Asharah in Deir Ezzor province.
Neither IS nor its rival Al-Qaeda was included in the truce between the regime and non-jihadist rebels which came into effect in February after efforts by Washington and Moscow.
Washington has deployed more than 200 special forces troops with the SDF to oversee the offensive.
Advertisement
Lina Khatib, head of the Middle East and North Africa program at the Chatham House think tank, said it was hard to imagine such dual attacks on the Islamic State happening without prior agreement between the US and Russian Federation.
