According to state media reports, the Syrian army has taken full control of Tabqa, a strategically important city, and its military airport on the Euphrates River, accelerating a rapid offensive in Raqqa province.
After releasing fighters affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), information minister Hamza al-Mustafa announced early on Sunday that government forces had secured Tabqa and the largest dam in Syria, Tabqa.
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The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and PKK-affiliated organizations are also accused of killing prisoners and detainees in Tabqa.
Turkiye, the European Union, and the United States have labeled the PKK a “terrorist” organization.
According to Damascus, the killings, “especially of civilians,” constituted “a fully-fledged crime under the Geneva Conventions” and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.
Syrian army “rapid” takeover
According to Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, who is based out of Aleppo, fighting is now moving quickly in northern Syria, with Syrian government troops launching attacks on Raqqa.
According to Basravi, “Rapid is the right word,” noting that Aleppo’s neighbourhood clashes occurred “less than two weeks ago,” while other SDF strongholds have since returned to government control. He continued, “All of that instantly feels like a history lesson.”
According to Basravi, Syrian forces have since moved their military operations away from Aleppo province to Raqqa, advancing into SDF-held territory. He claimed that “this rapid advance of Syrian troops” is what we are seeing right now toward important population centers from border towns.
He described unconfirmed fighting inside Tabqa, where Syrian forces appear to be launching clearing operations similar to those carried out elsewhere.
Basravi claims that the military is moving quickly through the Arab-majority towns where the Kurdish-led SDF has not historically received organic support.
He claimed that Aleppo and the Raqqa provinces are now experiencing “a massive pincer movement” that is causing retreats that seem more defensive.
SDF units were seen evacuating a military hospital in videos that were available online as fighting raged near the city’s southern entrance.
Raqqa served as ISIL’s (ISIS) self-declared capital from January 2014 until its liberation in October 2017 by the US-backed SDF. Under ISIL rule, the city was left in pieces and the city was the victim of atrocities and mass executions.
SDF fighters give themselves up.
Authorities claim that an explosion that damaged main pipelines close to the old bridge caused the water supply in Raqqa to be cut. The SDF destroyed the bridge over the Euphrates, according to the state news agency Syrian Arab News Agency.
The army’s operations command said its troops had earlier taken control of the Mansoura Dam and several nearby towns, placing them less than 5km (3 miles) from Raqqa’s western gate. It later reported that 64 SDF fighters give themselves up.ed in the Mansoura area after being encircled.
The army claimed in a separate statement that its units “from several axes” were circling PKK fighters inside the military airport while they “took several axes” of entering Tabqa.
Following the demand that SDF leaders leave east of the Euphrates and the capture of numerous villages around al-Rasafa, the advance came.
In eastern Deir Az Zor, tribal forces claimed to be battling SDF units in coordination with the Syrian army in several eastern towns. According to a tribal military source, the SDF has seized numerous positions and urged tribespeople to lay down their weapons.
The SDF claimed that government forces attacked its positions in several Deir Az Zor towns as artillery shells aimed at areas east of the Euphrates. As operations spread across northeast Syria, the army announced that it would be sending reinforcements to the province.
Territories being lost by SDF
William Lawrence, a former US diplomat in the area and current professor at the American University, claimed that the current events are inconsistent with what was agreed in March of last year.
According to Lawrence, “the speed surprised me,” noting that the March 10 agreement envisaged a gradual withdrawal. According to the March 10th agreement, this was meant to be a gradual withdrawal. The Syrian army is supposed to replace it with the SDF, but the SDF is supposed to leave the same areas.
Instead, he claimed, “the Syrian army is moving in much more quickly than they were supposed to,” leaving the SDF “between a phased retreat and a tactical retreat that’s supposed to be under the agreement”
Lawrence warned that the agreement was now being undermined by both sides. He claimed that “we’re having a chaotic change of the guard rather than a phased change of the guard” and that both sides are sort of violating the spirit, if not the exact terms of the agreement.
He warned Washington against narrowing its security-related attention. According to Lawrence, “the US needs to really concentrate on politics as much as security.” This is because counterterrorism tends to prioritize the latter, which could undermine any long-term agreement.
Source: Aljazeera
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