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WORLD NEWS Thursday 30 March 2017

Syrian experts visit critical dam spillway near main IS base

SARAH EL DEEB claim.
Associated Press The fighting in this part of
BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian engi- Syria is shaping up to be the
neers and Red Crescent next major battle against
officials on Wednesday IS. Earlier this month, U.S.
visited a spillway of a key aircraft ferried hundreds of
dam west of the Islamic fighters from the Kurdish-led
State group’s stronghold of Syrian Democratic Forces,
Raqqa, opening the gates as well as American artil-
and relieving pressure, ac- lery and military advisers,
cording to the aid organi- behind IS lines. The US-led
zation and Syrian Kurdish forces seized control of
media. the Tabqa airbase earlier
The visit followed con- this week. On Wednesday,
cerns that the Tabqa Dam fighting between the Syr-
is threatened, endanger- ian opposition forces and
ing the surrounding area IS militants was reported on
that has become a bat- the dam itself. Panic over
tleground as U.S.-backed rising water levels or the
forces push toward Raqqa, dam’s malfunction has pre-
the IS group’s self-pro- This photo released by the official Twitter account of Operation Inherent Resolve, shows the Tabqa vailed as the U.S-backed
claimed capital. The main Dam, in Raqqa, Syria. Syrian engineers and Red Crescent officials on Wednesday visited a spill- forces advance on the IS
gates of the dam, further to way of a key dam west of the Islamic State group’s stronghold of Raqqa, opening the gates and stronghold. IS has warned
the south from the spillway, relieving pressure, according to the aid organization and Syrian Kurdish media. that the dam’s main gates
(Operation Inherent Resolve via AP)
are out of service. are out of service, causing
The condition of the dam, upstream from the city of tried to carry out his duties. dam issued a statement, water levels to rise.
Syria’s largest and a stra- Raqqa, the US-backed ... There were strikes,” she saying the manager and Former dam engineers said
tegic infrastructure still in Kurdish-led forces control told The Associated Press. the Red Crescent volun- the opening of the spillway
the hands of IS, has been the spillway and canal, She didn’t elaborate and teer were killed as they gates would relieve some
disputed after conflicting about 4 kilometers (2.5 wouldn’t provide further attempted to reach the pressure from the main
claims that it came under miles) further to the north. details on the team’s mis- structure to deal with leak- gate but warned that the
attack from the U.S.-led The Syrian Red Crescent sion, citing security con- age in the main chambers. dam’s main operations
coalition, damaging the spokeswoman, Mona cerns. Opposition activists They didn’t specify how have been suspended, in-
infrastructure, amid an un- Kurdy, said a team of its vol- and former dam engineers they were killed. cluding local power gen-
folding offensive on the IS unteers managed to reach said the dam manager The activist Syrian Observa- eration.
stronghold. The U.S.-led co- the spillway on Wednesday who appeared in an IS tory for Human Rights said Elsewhere in Syria, a bomb
alition denied targeting the in collaboration with the video about the dangers the manager was believed planted on a taxi van carry-
dam, behind which lies Syr- Syrian ministry of water re- facing the dam, a techni- killed in a suspected coali- ing university students in the
ia’s largest water reservoir. sources. She said an earlier cian, and a Red Crescent tion airstrike against a con- central city of Homs killed
While IS still controls the attempt to reach the site volunteer were killed late voy after he left the dam in at least five people and
main span of the dam and failed because of violence, on Monday. the middle of the night. wounded four on Wednes-
its gates, located about and a volunteer was killed. The engineers, who had The coalition said in an day, the local police chief
40 kilometers (25 miles) “We lost a volunteer as he previously worked in the email it was looking into the told state TV. q
Putin visits Arctic archipelago to reaffirm Russian presence

V. ISACHENKOV base, Putin emphasized portance for the Russian miles) of Artic sea shelf with other nations to carry
Associated Press the need to protect Rus- economy, are concen- extending more than 350 out mutually beneficial
MOSCOW (AP) — President sia’s economic and secu- trated in this region,” Putin nautical miles (about 650 projects in tapping natu-
Vladimir Putin on Wednes- rity interests in the Arctic. said in remarks carried by kilometers) from the shore. ral resources, developing
day visited an Arctic archi- The Kremlin has named re- Russian news agencies. Russia, the United States, global transport corridors
pelago, part of Russia’s ef- affirming the Russian pres- Putin said that current es- Canada, Denmark and and also in science and
forts to reaffirm its foothold ence in the Arctic as a top timates put the value of Norway have all been try- environment protection.”
in the oil-rich region. priority amid an intensify- Arctic’s mineral riches at ing to assert jurisdiction He also underlined the
On a tour on the Franz ing rivalry over the region $30 trillion. over parts of the Arctic as need for the military and
Josef Land archipelago, that is believed to hold up In 2015, Russia submitted shrinking polar ice creates security agencies to “im-
a sprawling collection of to one-quarter of the plan- a revised bid for vast ter- new opportunities for ex- plement their plans to pro-
islands where the Russian et’s undiscovered oil and ritories in the Arctic to the ploration. tect national interests, our
military has recently built a gas. United Nations, claiming Putin said Wednesday that defense capability and
new runway and worked “Natural resources, which 1.2 million square kilome- Russia has remained open protection of our interests
to open a permanent are of paramount im- ters (over 463,000 square to a “broad partnership in the Arctic.”q