US helicopters, special ops take part in Syrian militia airlift

Forces such as Apache helicopters, U.S. Marine artillery and special operation troops were part of a U.S.-led coalition operation to air drop Syrian militia into an area near the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) stronghold Raqqa, a U.S. official said on March 22. 

The air drop of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near the town of Tabqa in northern Syria was the first time the coalition had carried out such a mission, Colonel Joseph Scrocca, , a spokesman for the US-led coalition helping local fighters, told reporters, according to Reuters.

Tabqa Dam at the southern end of Lake Assad is about 55 kilometers west of Raqqa, which ISIL views as the capital of its supposed "caliphate."  

The ISIL-held facility provides electricity to much of the region and its destruction would result in widespread flooding.

Scrocca said U.S. support came overnight May 21-May 22 via Apache helicopter gunships, airlifts, air strikes and advice to the SDF, an Arab-Kurdish alliance.

A U.S. Marine artillery battery is also helping out, AFP reported. 

In a first, U.S. forces helicoptered an unspecified number of Arab SDF troops to Taqba, meaning they are now behind ISIL lines as they try to secure the dam.

Scrocca said the area around it is effectively a "command and control center for terrorist attacks against the West" and home to numerous foreign fighter training camps.

"Seizing Tabqa will give the SDF a strategic advantage and a launching point needed for the liberation" of Raqqa, Scrocca said.

The SDF has been working for months to encircle Raqqa before pushing into the city proper.  

He said that about 75 to 80 percent of the forces air dropped were members of the Syrian Arab Coalition...