BEIRUT (AP) – A U.S.-backed coalition of rebels in Syria – including Syrian Kurdish, Arab and Christian groups – captured several areas in the country’s north on Thursday from the Islamic State extremists, an activist group and a rebel spokesman said.
The advance of the coalition, known as Syria Democratic Forces, is part of the recent rebel push to take control of a major dam and cut supply lines between the IS group’s strongholds in northern Syria.
The SDF offensive started Wednesday with a push south of the Turkey-Syria border town of Kobani, according to a rebel spokesman, Col. Talal Sillu. On Thursday, coalition fighters advanced eight kilometers (five miles), inching closer to their objective – the Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates River that supplies much of northern Syria with electricity.
“The situation on the ground is excellent,” said Sillu. The rebels are also trying to cut the supply lines between the Islamic State’s de-facto capital of Raqqa and the group’s stronghold of Manbij. Several villages, farms and weapons were taken in battles with IS, the spokesman said, adding that at least 14 IS fighters have been killed since Wednesday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that SDF captured several villages in the area and that the fighters were advancing under cover of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition.