Dubai_ Massader News
US-backed Syrian fighters paused their offensive near the Tabqa dam on Monday to let engineers check it and fix any damage affecting operations.
The Syrian Democratic Forces alliance is battling so-called Islamic State for control of the structure, which is on the River Euphrates west of Raqqa.
On Sunday, the US-led coalition against IS denied claims by the group that air strikes have damaged the dam.
But its former chief engineer warned the control room was “out of service”.
The UN has warned that if the dam were to collapse, it could lead to flooding on a “massive scale” across Raqqa province and as far downstream as Deir al-Zour with “catastrophic humanitarian consequences”.
About 60m (200ft) tall and stretching 4.5km (2.8 miles) across the eastern end of Lake Assad, the dam is Syria’s largest.
IS captured the dam in 2014, giving it control of a vital reservoir and a hydroelectric power station that supplies large parts of the country.
The coalition also says the dam has been used by hundreds of IS foreign fighters as a headquarters, as a prison for high-profile hostages, as a training location and to plot attacks outside Syria.
Senior militants are said to have chosen to shelter at the dam because they believed the coalition would never bomb it and risk causing a flood.
The assault on the dam is part of a wider SDF offensive aimed at also driving IS militants from the nearby town of Tabqa and its airbase, which fell on Sunday.
The coalition stressed that it was “taking every precaution to ensure the integrity”, including by avoiding the use of high-explosive munitions in air strikes.
But on Monday afternoon, the SDF announced that it was halting its operations around the dam for several hours to “ensure the safety” of the structure.
It said engineers checked the structure during a four-hour pause in fighting. A statement on its Facebook page said there was no malfunction.
But one former dam engineer said the check could only be effective if it took more time and included the part controlled by IS.
The two groups currently control opposite ends of the 4.5km dam.