Kurdish forces ‘seize’ Islamic State controlled border town

The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, aided by US-led air strikes, have seized most of the town of Tel Abyad from Islamic State (IS) militants and pushed them back towards their de facto capital in Raqqa, a monitoring group said on Monday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks Syria’s civil war, said a handful of IS fighters and their Arab tribal allies remained in a few pockets inside Tel Abyad near the Turkish border.

While dealing a blow to IS, seizing Tel Abyad would help the YPG link up Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria.

Turkey is worried about the risk of separatist sentiment among its own Kurdish minority in the southwest.

Key partner

The Kurdish thrust into Tel Abyad came from both east and west of the town where it brought troops from Hasaka province in the northeastern part of Syria and from Kobani, northwest of Tel Abyad.

However, US-led coalition bombing of IS positions in the town played a decisive role in repelling the jihadists.

Tel Abyad, on the frontier with Turkey, has been a main conduit for the militants to smuggle weapons and oil.

The YPG has emerged as a key partner on the ground in Syria for the US-led alliance that has been bombing IS in Syria and Iraq. The Kurdish militia's advance into Raqqa province follows a campaign that drove Islamic State out of wide areas of neighbouring Hasaka province.

Reuters