U.S. official: Syrian Arab and Kurdish fighters facing little resistance at Tabqa dam

WASHINGTON  — A U.S. military spokesman says the Syrian Arab and Kurdish fighters airlifted into combat in northern Syria earlier this week have encountered only light resistance, suggesting that the operation caught Islamic State militants by surprise.

Col. Joseph Scrocca, spokesman in Baghdad for the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq, said in an email exchange Friday that the U.S.-backed Syrian forces have managed to build up their numbers by bringing in additional fighters, along with armored vehicles, using boats on Lake Assad.

Scrocca said the U.S. partners faced no "serious opposition," which he interpreted as meaning the ISIS militants who control the Tabqa Dam and the nearby town of Tabqa were caught by surprise when U.S. helicopters and other aircraft ferried fighters to the area on Wednesday.

A view from the top of the Tabqa dam under construction on the Euphrates River around 1973.

Photo Credit: AP

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