Syrian army ‘captures city of Tabqa’ from SDF, advances on Raqqa

The Syrian army announced early on Sunday that it was advancing toward the city of Raqqa in northern Syria after taking huge swathes of the western part of Raqqa province from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and claiming to have captured the city of al-Tabqa and its military airport.

The Syrian government accused the SDF of executing prisoners in Tabqa shortly before the fall of the city.

In a statement, the government said that it “condemns in the strongest terms the execution of prisoners and detainees in the city of by the SDF”.

It called this “a complete crime under the Geneva Conventions and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law”.

There were no details on the number and identity of the prisoners reportedly executed and no comment from the SDF.

This came as tribal fighters in the province of Deir az-Zour forced the SDF to withdraw from several towns in the province, according to The New Arab’s affiliate Syria TV.

The Kurdish-led SDF control most of northeastern Syria – an area which is predominantly Arab and includes most of Syria’s oil resources.

Turkey, a close ally of the Syrian government accuses the Kurdish militias which make up the SDF’s main component of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The Syrian army said that its forces had succeeded in imposing full control over the Tabqa Military Airport after “expelling the militias of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)”.

In statements carried by Syrian state news agency SANA, it added that army units also took control of al-Mansoura Dam (formerly al-Baath Dam) and the towns of Ratla and al-Hammam in western Raqqa province.

It added that its forces are now less than five kilometres from the western entrance of Raqqa city.

A correspondent for Syria TV reported that the Syrian army shelled SDF positions in the Raqqa desert.

A Syria TV correspondent also said that tribal militias had forced the SDF to withdraw from the towns of al-Shu’aytat, al-Jardhi, Suwaydan Jazira, and al-Tayyana in eastern Deir az-Zour province.

A tribal source in Deir az-Zour province also told Syria TV early on Sunday that they had forced the SDF to withdraw from areas to the north and west of Deir az-Zour city.

The Syrian army announced on Saturday that it was advancing towards SDF-held areas west of the Euphrates River, starting from the city of Deir Hafer in eastern Aleppo province.

Clashes between the Syrian army and the SDF began earlier this month in Aleppo city, after the breakdown of an agreement signed in March last year which stipulated the integration of the SDF’s political and military institutions into the Syrian state.

The Syrian government captured two Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods, Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh, following the clashes, which killed dozens of people and displaced tens of thousands.