Fighting escalates: Syrian military captures Tabqa regardless of US warnings | EUROtoday

The Syrian military is regardless of US calls for for a halt
superior additional into Kurdish-controlled areas. According to state media, the military captured the northern metropolis of Tabqa and two strategically vital dams. The head of the US Central Command (Centcom), Brad Cooper, known as on Syrian troops in an announcement revealed on Platform
Areas” between the city of Aleppo and the city of Tabqa, around 160 kilometers further east. There had previously been clashes between the army and Kurdish fighters
strategic positions and oil fields along the Euphrates.

Syrian troops had gathered near several villages west of the Euphrates and called on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to withdraw to the other bank of the river. SDF fighters then withdrew on Saturday morning as a gesture of the
returned from the area with good will. However, they accused Syrian troops of violating the agreement and continuing to advance into cities and oil fields that were not part of the agreement.

To end the fighting, US envoy Tom Barrack traveled to Erbil in northern Iraq on Saturday to meet with SDF officials and Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, according to two Kurdish insiders. The background to the tensions is the stalled negotiations over President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s demands to integrate the Kurds’ military and civilian structures into state institutions.

The SDF is a vital ally of the USA within the battle towards the extremist militia Islamic State (IS) in Syria. However, the US should reconcile this with its new assist for President Sharaa, whose Islamist rebels overthrew long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.