U.S.-backed forces take key airfield in northern Syria

U.S.-backed indigenous forces have secured a key airfield in northern Syria, which American officials say could be a key staging area for the upcoming assault on Islamic State’s capital of Raqqa.

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF — a constellation of Arab and Kurdish militias battling to oust Islamic State from the country — took control of the adjacent airfield at Tabqa Dam, roughly 30 miles west of the terror group’s self-styled Syrian capital.

SDF fighters are continuing their offensive on the dam complex itself, which began last week, U.S. Central Command spokesman Col. John Thomas said Monday. The critical facility along the banks of the Euphrates River “will fall into the hands of the SDF shortly,” he said.

The multi-pronged attack, which included SDF forces and their American military trainers executing an air assault mission for the first time ever, was one of the most complicated and ambitious offensives against the terror group since last year’s siege and recapture of Kobane.

U.S. warplanes and Apache attack helicopters provided close air support to the Syrian militiamen as they advanced on the dam. A contingent of Marines recently deployed to Syria provided artillery support for the offensive, while military advisers from American special operations forces flew in with SDF fighters during the air assault operation, coalition officials said Wednesday.

Securing the dam, along with the surrounding town and adjacent airfield, will also provide Syrian and coalition forces with a prime “launching point” for future U.S. and coalition-led operations once the looming advance on Raqqa begins, coalition spokesman Col. Joseph Scrocca told reporters at the onset of the Tabqa Dam operation.

The capture of the northern Iraqi town and adjoining airbase of Qayyara, just south of the Islamic State capital of Mosul, provided a critical hub for Iraqi and coalition forces to support the invasion of the city. The Iraqi-led Mosul offensive kicked off in October, just a few weeks after the fall of Qayyara.

Col. Scrocca said any comparisons between taking of Qayyara in Iraq and the push to capture Tabqa Dam, in terms of the timing for the assault on Raqqa, were moot. The airfield and associated facilities at Tabqa were one of several locations coalition commanders were pursuing, to support the eventual siege of Raqqa.