Fighting puts Syria IS-held dam out of service: source
Fighting at a dam held by the Islamic State jihadist group in northern Syria put it out of service yesterday, risking dangerous rising water levels, a technical source told AFP.
A Kurdish-Arab alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is battling to take Tabqa dam and nearby Tabqa town from IS before advancing on the jihadist group's de facto Syrian capital Raqa.
But a source at the dam told AFP that the fighting had damaged its power station, forcing a halt to operations on Sunday.
"Shelling on the area... that supplies that dam with electricity has put it out of service," the source said.
"The work needed to fix the problem is not possible because there is not sufficient staff available as a result of the intensive shelling in the area of the dam," he added.
"If the problem is not fixed, it will begin to pose a danger to the dam."
The source could not confirm what kind of shelling damaged the power station, but there has been heavy fighting nearby as well as air raids by the US-led coalition against IS in support of SDF fighters in the area.
SDF spokesman Talal Sello insisted there was no imminent danger to the dam, which is Syria's largest and sits on the Euphrates river.
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