The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group of Kurdish and Arab militias, will wait to assault Raqqa until it seizes Tabqa, its military officials have previously said, but it had made only slow progress since besieging the town early this month. In a statement it circulated on social messaging sites, the SDF said it had captured six more districts of Tabqa and distributed a map showing that Islamic State now controlled only the northern part of the town, next to the dam. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the SDF had gained almost complete control over Tabqa in its advance. Islamic State still holds several Tabqa districts along the southern bank of Lake Assad and the southern section of the Euphrates dam, including its operations facilities and a hydro-electric power plant. Islamic State's only means of crossing to its main territory on the south bank of the Euphrates is by boat after aerial bombing put the region's bridges out of service.

Source: bd News24 April 30, 2017 08:48 UTC