Syrian forces capture oilfields, dam as allied tribal fighters inside Raqqa

The Syrian army has taken full control of the strategic city of Tabqa and its military airport on the Euphrates River, expanding a rapid offensive in Raqqa province, state media reported, as government-allied tribal forces are now inside the city of Raqqa.

Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said early on Sunday that government forces had secured Tabqa and the nearby Euphrates Dam, Syria’s largest, after expelling fighters linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), labelled a “terrorist” group by Turkiye, the European Union and the United States.

A source within government-allied tribal forces has confirmed to Al Jazeera that fighters have taken control of the military security building in Raqqa, the city’s Mashlab neighbourhood, as well as its Shuaib quarter.

Syrian state media reported that two civilians had been killed by “SDF gunfire” in Raqqa during the fighting.

The Syrian government source also told Al Jazeera that areas south of Hasakah, in northeastern Syria, stretching from Sur to al-Shaddadi, are now free of the SDF presence. Parts of al-Shaddadi city have also cleared after SDF fighters began withdrawing, they said.

Members of Arab tribes have defected from the SDF in al-Shaddadi, while remaining fighters of the group are retreating towards Hasakah, the source said, adding the SDF checkpoints have collapsed across the northeastern countryside of al-Shaddadi, extending as far as the al-Hadadiyah area along the Hasakah road.

Oilfields captured

Syrian security sources told Al Jazeera that SDF fighters at the al-Omar and al-Tanak oilfields in the eastern Deir Az Zor countryside have also withdrawn.

Syrian troops have now seized control of the al-Omar oilfield – the country’s largest, Reuters news agency reported.

On Saturday, the Syrian Petroleum Company said the oilfields of Rasafa and Sufyan near Deir Hafer had been captured by Syrian soldiers and could now be brought back online in a boost to the Syrian economy.

The Ministry of Interior said security forces continue to carry out sweeps in the Deir Hafer area after it was abandoned by SDF fighters on Saturday.

‘Rapid’ Syrian army takeover

Reporting from Tabqa, Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi said the pace of fighting in northern Syria has accelerated sharply, with government troops rapidly shifting operations towards Raqqa.

“This rapid advance has resulted in bloodshed on the Syrian side and the side of the SDF. The numbers are still coming in, but exactly how bad things are we’ll know only when the fighting is over,” Basravi said.

Basravi said Syrian forces have now redirected their military focus from Aleppo province towards Raqqa, advancing into territory held by the SDF.

“We are here in Raqqa province, a short drive from the third stronghold city of Tabqa to fall into Syrian government control and out of SDF hands in less than two weeks,” he said.

According to Basravi, the military is moving quickly through Arab-majority towns where “there hasn’t always been organic support” for the Kurdish-led SDF.

The SDF, he said, is now facing “a massive pincer movement” stretching across Aleppo and Raqqa provinces, forcing retreats that appear increasingly defensive.

Videos circulating online showed SDF units evacuating a military hospital, while fighting intensified near the city’s southern entrance.

The ISIL (ISIS) group had declared Raqqa its capital in January 2014, until its liberation in October 2017 by the US-backed SDF. The city was left in ruins and suffered atrocities and mass death under ISIL rule.

“There is a practical aspect of trying to take control back from the SDF of areas in Raqqa and Deir Az Zor,” noted Basravi.

“There are big oil-and-gas fields in these areas, and Syrian forces there are struggling not just for territory and land but for a stake in the country’s economic future,” he added.

Video clips and live footage published on social media – verified by Al Jazeera – show celebrations in the cities of Hajin and al-Shuhayl in the eastern countryside of Deir Az Zor following the withdrawal of SDF fighters from the area.

Fighting also spread to eastern Deir Az Zor, where tribal forces said they were battling SDF units across several eastern towns in coordination with the Syrian army. A tribal military source said they had seized multiple positions and urged tribesmen within the SDF to lay down their arms.

The SDF, for its part, said government forces attacked its positions in several Deir Az Zor towns, as artillery shelling targeted areas east of the Euphrates. The army said it was sending reinforcements to the province as operations expanded across northeast Syria.

SDF losing territory

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, affiliated with the SDF, has accused the Syrian government of violating a withdrawal agreement, saying it “attacked our forces on multiple fronts since yesterday morning”.

“Despite all efforts to find peaceful solutions and demonstrate good faith by withdrawing from some areas, Damascus insists on continuing the fighting and pursuing the military option,” the administration said in a statement.

Omer Ozkizilcik, non-resident senior fellow for the Syria Project at the Atlantic Council, said “there is a great chance” that the SDF would return to the negotiating table with the Syrian government after the rapid territorial advances over the last 48 hours.

“There is hope that the SDF will understand the realities on the ground,” Ozkizilcik said, citing the enthusiastic welcome government forces received by some communities as showing the Kurdish-led group did not have widespread public support.

“So this indicates the social and demographic fragility of the SDF. And now the question is, will the SDF see this reality and agree to the demands by Damascus to integrate into the Syrian state, and that can happen quite easily,” he told Al Jazeera.

The government in Damascus knows the US will not tolerate a prolonged offensive against the SDF, not just because it is an ally, but because there is the risk of 10,000 ISIL prisoners being held by the Kurdish group escaping, security analyst Rob Geist Pinfold, a lecturer at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera.

“We already saw pictures and footage from areas like Tabqa of prisoners being let out of jail… It will not be long before that footage is weaponised by the SDF,” Pinfold said.

An official with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria said Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa and SDF chief Mazloum Abdi, also known as Mazloum Kobani, have talked on the phone.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al Jazeera that “things are positive”.

Earlier talks between US envoy Tom Barrack and Abdi were held in Erbil, Iraq, though no details of the outcome were disclosed.

Execution of prisoners

The Syrian government also condemned the alleged execution of prisoners and detainees in Tabqa by the SDF and PKK-affiliated groups.

In a statement relayed by al-Mustafa, Damascus said the killings, “especially of civilians”, amounted to “a fully-fledged crime under the Geneva Conventions” and a clear violation of international humanitarian law.