Hundreds of civilians fled the ongoing battles between the US-backed fighters and Islamic State near Tabqa city.

Fierce clashes erupted between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and the Islamic State militants around the endangered Tabqa Dam located to the north of the Tabqa city; currently under ISIS control.

According to RT’s Lizzie Phelan, ISIS targeted the Kurdish fighters positioned in the northern parts of the Dam with mortar shells, causing material damage.

The US artillery units deployed in the area responded to the attack.

The military operation to retake Tabqa aims at surrounding the Islamic State fighters and eventually force them to surrender in order to avoid damaging the strategic Dam, according to Lizzie Phelan.

Civilians who fled the clashes claimed that ISIS burnt down their tents in their villages near the ISIS-held city.

The escape was given another interpretation by a local activist group [Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Sliently], which reported that civilians were forced to leave their village after being drown with water released from a drainage channel yesterday.