BEIRUT/NEAR FALLUJAH (Iraq): Syrian troops pushed into the
Islamic State group's bastion province Raqqa on Saturday for the first time since 2014, in an advance towards the country's largest dam, a monitor said.
The Tabqa dam on the Euphrates river, 40 kilometres (25 miles) upstream from Raqqa city, is also the target of a separate offensive launched by US-backed Kurdish-led forces advancing from the north late last month.
"Regime troops backed by Russian air strikes and Russian-trained militia entered Raqqa province on Saturday morning for the first time since August 2014,", Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. "It seems there has been an undeclared coordination between Washington and Moscow," he added, referring to the pincer movement by the two governments' respective Syria allies.
The lightning advance from the southwest brought government troops to within less than 40 kilometres (25 miles) of Tabqa, which is also the site of an airbase, Abdel Rahman said.
At least 26 jihadists and nine government troops and militia were killed in the advance, according to the Britain-based observatory, which relies on reports from medics and activists on the ground.
Tabqa dam has a huge reservoir named Lake Assad after President Bashar al-Assad's late father and predecessor Hafez. When
ISIS overran the area in 2014, it summarily executed 160 captured regime troops.
The jihadists are facing counterattacks on multiple fronts.
Arab and Kurdish fighters backed by Washington have launched an assault on the strategic Manbij pocket further up the Euphrates on the Turkish border, regarded as a key entry point for foreign jihadists.
Iraq forces gain ground in Fallujah
Hundreds of kilometres downstream in neighbouring Iraq, elite Iraq troops have launched an assault on the emblematic ISIS bastion of Fallujah. Fighters from the army, the police and from the Hashed al-Shaabi — a paramilitary organization dominated by Tehran-backed Shia militias — entered the centre of Saqlawiya.
The town lies around 10 kilometres (six miles) northwest of Fallujah and control of the rural area around it is key to cutting off the city which Iraqi forces are trying to retake.
"The Iraqi army's 14th Division and Hashed al-Shaabi stormed the centre of Saqlawiya town from the highway and raised the Iraqi flag," a statement from the Joint Operations Command said. Federal police moving from a different direction were also involved in the operation to retake Saqlawiya.
As elite forces are trying to push into the centre of Fallujah, other forces have continued to clear areas around the city to ensure it is completely isolated. The operation in Saqlawiya is aimed at cutting off Fallujah from Jazirat al-Khaldiyah, an area to the west which IS has been passing through to reach its positions elsewhere.
The Joint Operations Command said a US-led coalition air strike had hit a boatload of ISIS fighters attempting to flee Fallujah along the Euphrates river, killing all on board.
Fallujah lies just 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad and is one of IS's most emblematic bastions. Iraqi forces launched a major offensive to retake the city on May 22-23.
