MOSCOW -- A senior Russian general on Tuesday accused the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State of targeting Syria's infrastructure -- including a key dam -- in territory held by the Sunni extremist group.
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Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the military's General Staff said the coalition was trying to "completely destroy critical infrastructure in Syria and complicate postwar reconstruction as much as possible."
A U.S.-backed Syrian opposition force has insisted it is taking care to preserve vital infrastructure as it steps up military operations in northern Syria ahead of a push on Raqqa, the capital of the Islamic State's self-styled caliphate.
Rudskoi claimed that coalition jets had destroyed four bridges over the Euphrates River in Syria and hit the Tabqa dam to the west of Raqqa.
The collapse of the dam would cause an "ecological catastrophe" and lead to "numerous" civilian deaths, he said.
The Islamic State has claimed that U.S.-led coalition airstrikes had locked up the dam's gates, causing the water level behind it to rise.
On Monday, the U.S.-led coalition reiterated that it is taking every precaution to ensure the integrity of the dam. "To our knowledge, the dam has not been structurally damaged," it said on its Twitter account.
A spillway north of the structure is under control of the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led opposition group known as the Syrian Democratic Forces and can be used to relieve pressure behind the dam, the coalition said in an email Sunday.
Engineers who used to work at the site have expressed doubt that the spillway could accommodate the water flow, but they said it will still take at least a month for the lake to reach critical levels if the gates are not opened. The Islamic State has warned that the dam's main gates are out of service, causing water levels to rise.
Pressure on the Islamic State has intensified in recent months as the group has suffered a series of battlefield losses in both Syria and neighboring Iraq.
With the Syrian Democratic Forces to the north and west of Raqqa, a push on the city is shaping up to be the next major battle. Last week, U.S. aircraft ferried hundreds of Syrian Democratic Forces fighters, as well as American artillery and military advisers, behind Islamic State lines.
President Bashar Assad's government has objected to U.S. involvement, saying that U.S. forces are not authorized to be on Syrian soil. For its part, Russia prefers seeing Syrian government forces leading the assault on Raqqa.
Activist groups said Monday that the city itself has been without electricity and municipal water for three to five days.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said the cuts are due to the fighting around the Tabqa dam, 25 miles west of Raqqa.
Rudskoi said Tuesday that Syrian government forces, with Russian military assistance, are making progress against the Islamic State. Russia has been Assad's main backer and has played a key role in turning the tide of war in his favor.
Syrian forces now control territory up to 13 miles around the historic city of Palmyra, Rudskoi said, adding that they recently seized control of high ground held by the Islamic State along a highway connecting Palmyra and the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Syrian troops fully recaptured Palmyra earlier this month after a push that saw Islamic State defenses crumble and their fighters flee in the face of artillery fire and intense Russia-backed airstrikes. The Syrian government had seized the town from Islamic State militants last March, only to lose it again 10 months later.
Information for this article was contributed by Philip Issa of The Associated Press.
A Section on 03/29/2017