Operation Featherweight: Month 34, Week 3, Day 1.

The Syrian town of Tabqa is currently on the verge of being liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Tabqa sits on the southern bank of the Euphrates River around 40km (25 miles) west of Raqqa - ISIL's de facto capital in Syria.

Tabqa's main strategic importance is the adjoining Tabqa Dam. This spans the Euphrates River forming Lake Assad. Tabqa Dam provides both clean water and hydroelectric power to much of the surrounding area. It also represents one of the few remaining crossing points over the Euphrates linking Raqqa with ISIL positions in the centre of Syria.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the US-led coalition Combined Joint Task Force: Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR) launched an operation to liberate Tabqa on March 21st (21/3/17) they first entered the town itself on April 15th (15/4/17).

Last Saturday (29/4/17) ISIL's defences within Tabqa collapsed. This meant that by Monday (1/5/17) ISIL had lost control of all of Tabqa expect for the so-called; "The Neighbourhoods" right at the north of the town on the banks of Lake Assad.

Yesterday (4/5/17) it was reported that the SDF had negotiated ISIL's withdrawal leaving Tabqa fully liberated. Those reports have now proved to be incorrect.

The SDF have certainly attempted to negotiate with ISIL. Having surrounded Tabqa on March 29th (29/3/17) the SDF then waited 16 days before launching their assault in order to give ISIL opportunity to surrender.

What the SDF wanted from these negotiations is the complete surrender of ISIL. That means their fighters leave Tabqa as prisoners of the SDF. What ISIL wanted from the negotiations was safe passage for their fighters, their weapons and some of their hostages out of Tabqa to Raqqa.

The negotiations have been brokered by a local Arab tribe. They obviously want their town back as soon as possible. They would also prefer it if ISIL, the SDF and CJTFOIR don't destroy the town before then. Yesterday's (4/5/17) reports came from that local tribe. The objective seemed to be to force the SDF into agreeing to ISIL's demands.

Although I certainly have no sympathy for ISIL I can't say that I would be particularly opposed to the very small number of ISIL fighters remaining in Tabqa being granted safe passage in return for a quick end to the battle. While it might sound unpleasant sometimes a little bit of flexibility is the best approach.

The example I can think of is Israel's decision to treat wounded members of the Army of Islam/Jaish al-Islam (JAI) group in the summer of 2015.

At the time the Army of Islam were fighting Syrian forces in the Golan Heights right by Syria's disputed border with Israel. The Army of Islam then decided to point their weapons at the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) Golani Brigade and demand their wounded were treated.

If the Golani Brigade had refused there was a good chance that the Army of Islam would open fire on them. This would force the Golani Brigade to return fire and then the wider IDF to enter Syria to totally eliminate the Army of Islam.

This would have allowed both ISIL and the wider Army of Conquest/Jaish al-Fatah (JAF) or which the Army of Islam are part to claim that they were fighting against war against the evil Zionist state and its allies in the Syrian government. That would likely have boosted support for both groups not only making the entire conflict much more complex but also much worse.

Therefore it was more sensible for Israel to treat a small number of Army of Islam wounded rather than being dragged into a wider regional conflict.

Unfortunately at this time the Army of Conquest were happily engaging in a genocide of Syria's Druze population. This obviously angered Israel's own Druze population leading to the ad-hoc agreement being halted.

Amid yesterday's conflicting reports any negotiations between the SDF and ISIL in Tabqa have broken down. An SDF combat operation is currently underway to liberate the Three Neighbourhoods by force.

Another interesting thing that the SDF have been doing in their liberation of Tabqa is that they've repeatedly paused to open humanitarian corridors. First from the main part of the town into the Alexandria neighbourhood and then from the Central neighbourhood into the al-Wahhab neighbourhood.

This has seen some 1,500 civilians a day being evacuated from Tabqa and the surroundings areas to the vast 15,200kmsq (9,100 milesq) area the SDF control north-east of the Euphrates designated; "Shangri-La." The total number of civilians who've arrived in Shangri-La is now believed to be around 7,000.

On Monday (1/5/17) I highlighted the pressure this is putting on Shangri-La because despite its vast size there is only one Internally Displaced People's (IDP's) camp in the area - the Newroz Camp. Although this receives some funding from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) it is run entirely by the SDF because international aid agencies refuse to operate within Shangri-La.

The Newroz Camp is the only dedicated IDP camp in Shangri-La for those fleeing ISIL and the Army of Conquest. However there is another camp in the area - the Al-Hawl Refugee Camp.

Located in al-Hawl close to the Syria/Iraq border the al-Hawl Refugee Camp was established in 1991 to house Kurds fleeing from the 1991 Iraq war. It was re-opened in 2003 to house Palestinian refugees who'd been forced out of Iraq due to the 2003 Iraq war. I was under the impression that it had been closed but apparently it does continue to receive funding from UNHCR although as with the Newroz Camp it is run entirely by the SDF.

On Tuesday (2/5/17) ISIL launched multiple suicide bomb attacks against IDP's destined for the al-Hawl camp.

Specifically ISIL attacked a makeshift IDP camp at Rajm al-Salibi which sits at the boundary between Shangri-La and ISIL controlled territory further south. Rather than being a formal IDP camp Rajm al-Salibi is merely a place where IDP's have set up camp. The attack killed at least 37 people.

Apart from their genocidal urges ISIL's attack on Rajm al-Salibi seemed intended to scare international aid agencies such as UNHCR and the International Committee of the Red Cross/Crescent (ICRC) from operating within Shangri-La.

It is pretty clear then that there is nothing ISIL fear more than Shangri-La being formally designated as a CJTFOIR protected Safe-Haven.

16:15 on 5/5/17 (UK date).