US forces ferry Syrian-Kurdish fighters behind IS lines
BEIRUT -- US aircraft ferried Syrian Kurdish fighters and allied forces behind Islamic State lines Wednesday to spearhead an assault on a strategic town belonging to the extremist group outside its de facto capital, Raqqa, the Pentagon said.
The airlift was part of what Pentagon spokesman Eric Pohan described as a large, high-priority offensive to secure the area around Tabqa and the associated Tabqa Dam on the Euphrates River.
"This is a significant strategic target," said Pohan. If successful, the operation would "basically cut ISIS off" from the western approaches to Raqqa.
