Syrian experts visit critical dam spillway near main IS base

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian engineers and Red Crescent officials on Wednesday visited a spillway of a key dam west of the Islamic State group's stronghold of Raqqa, opening the gates and relieving pressure, according to the aid organization and Syrian Kurdish media.

The condition of the dam, Syria's largest and a strategic infrastructure still in the hands of IS, has been disputed after conflicting claims that it came under attack from the U.S.-led coalition, damaging the infrastructure, amid an unfolding offensive on the IS stronghold.

Opposition activists and former dam engineers said the dam manager who appeared in an IS video about the dangers facing the dam, a technician, and a Red Crescent volunteer were killed late on Monday.

The engineers, who had previously worked in the dam issued a statement, saying the manager and the Red Crescent volunteer were killed as they attempted to reach the structure to deal with leakage in the main chambers.

Elsewhere in Syria, a bomb planted on a taxi van carrying university students in the central city of Homs killed at least five people and wounded four on Wednesday, the local police chief told state TV.

[...] Russian officials in Geneva met with representatives of the Syrian opposition on the sidelines of talks mediated by the United Nations, part of efforts to find a political solution to the conflict.