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Battle of Al-Tabqa Dam (2017)

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The Battle of Tabqa Dam is a military operation by the Syrian Democratic Forces to capture Tabqa Dam and the adjoining city of Taqba from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The SDF moved on the dam and the city in January 2017 during their Raqqa offensive.[citation needed]

Background[edit]

Tabqa Dam is a large dam in northern Syria, adjacent to the town of al-Thawrah (al-Tabqa). It is located near the city of al-Raqqah, capital of the al-Raqqah Governorate and the present headquarters of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Syria. Since 2013 it is held by ISIL.

As part of their efforts to take al-Raqqah, the Syrian Democratic Forces took villages to the west of Raqqa. The operation to take the dam and the adjacent town was the second phase of the operation. The second phase of the operation involves securing land around Raqqa before the battle in the city can proceed.[citation needed]

ISIL were in possession of the town and the dam since 2013. With the town's population of 70,000 people, this was the largest town in the Raqqa Governorate, apart from Raqqa city itself.[1][2] The town is heavily fortified, but of strategic importance relating to the fact that if taken, it will cut the A4 road supplying Raqqa.[citation needed]

Operation[edit]

As part of the initial second phase of Operation Euphrates Wrath, the Syrian Democratic forces initially approached the dam on the west bank of the Euphrates river and Lake Assad, with the area being the last ISIL-held territory before the dam and the city on the other side of the river bank.[3][4][better source needed] The only way across the dam was a single bridge, giving access to the the dam itself and the dam administration buildings. Otherwise, the lake and the river prevented access to al-Tabqa on the other side.[citation needed]

To get around this, on 23 January, SDF troops, joined by 200 United States special operations forces soldiers,[5] conducted an amphibious landing, crossing the river in barges.[6] The troops arrived on the southern side of the river, and from there they moved into the first quarter of the town and engaged in combat with ISIL troops in Tabqa.[7]

Anticipating a landward attack ISIL had dug in and prepared earthworks and trenches. The SDF were warned of them by the US. The amphibious landing avoided the fortifications. In addition, US planes bombed the ISIL trenches. By 24 January, the SDF had moved into the town, backed by US special forces. During the attack, ISIL opened three of the four dam turbines, which released water and threatened land downstream of the dam, with flooding possibly affecting some neighbourhoods of al-Raqqah. The dam's entrance was damaged in the fighting.[8][9][10][11]

US and SDF forces then retreated from the initial attack, pulling back across to the other bank of the river.[citation needed] On the same day, ISIL counterattacked the SDF positions, but were in turn repulsed with losses.[citation needed]. During the operation, SDF troops received US-led coalition-supplied armoured personnel carriers and anti-tank missiles.[12] The use of coalition air power to assist SDF forces has been limited due to potential damage to the dam.[5]

References[edit]

  1. "Raqqa Battle: Syrian Kurdish-led forces besiege Euphrates Dam". Kurdistan24. 23 January 2017.
  2. Antonopoulos, Paul (21 January 2017). "ISIS in a dire position as the SDF attack the imperative Tabqa Dam".
  3. "Syria Direct".
  4. "Raqqa battle: Kurdish-led forces approach Tabqa, liberate villages". Kurdistan24. 15 December 2016.
  5. 5.0 5.1 "Raqqa offensive: Flood fears as SDF forces near Islamic State-held dam".
  6. "US Special Forces & YPG Units Conduct Saboteur Raid Against ISIS In Tabqa". 23 January 2017.
  7. الإخبارية, شبكة عاجل. "قسد تصل سد الفرات.. وداعش يحصن خطوطه في الطبقة".
  8. "'If the Euphrates River rises any more, it will submerge huge swathes of agricultural land': Islamic State opens turbines of Syria's largest dam".
  9. "Former Tabqa Dam engineer: 'We could see an immediate humanitarian crisis of historic proportions'".
  10. faskarieh (23 January 2017). "Thousands of Lives in Danger as ISIS Leaves Gates of Syrian Dam Open » IFP News".
  11. http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/raqqa-sdf-islamic-state-taqba-dam-1207817818
  12. "Coalition supplied armored vehicles to SDF for first time".


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