The escalation around the city of Aleppo has spread to the Raqqa region on the Euphrates River. Damascus on Saturday threatened to bomb areas where Kurdish forces are present.
The Kurdish forces have received support from the United States, among others, in the fight against the terrorist movement ISIS. The US military command center Centcom (United States Central Command), responsible for the Middle East and Central Asia, urged the Syrian government to suspend the offensive "between Aleppo and al-Tabqa."
Continuing the offensive
But Damascus chose not to heed the call. Late Saturday, the Syrian military announced it had captured the city of al-Tabqa in Raqqa province.
“The Syrian army has begun to capture the city of Tabqa from several directions, while the PKK terrorist militia at Tabqa military airport has been surrounded,” the military announced via the state news agency Sana on Saturday evening. A couple of hours later, the military said the airport had also been captured.
In addition, two oil fields in Raqqa have been captured by government forces, according to Damascus.
The interim government, led by interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, is thus escalating fighting against Kurdish groups in a country already severely damaged by previous civil wars.
Official language
Kurdish forces announced late Friday that they were withdrawing from areas near Aleppo and Deir Hafer after the government issued threats of attacks. The information was confirmed by independent journalists on the ground.
Parts of the Kurdish forces have been part of the joint force known as the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces), which has included Syrian and Arab forces that took part in battles against the Islamist terrorist movement IS during the civil war in Syria.
While the offensive is underway in northern Syria, interim President al-Sharaa announced that the Kurdish language will be considered one of Syria's official languages.
