Reuters, Beirut :
Kurdish forces dealt a blow to Islamic State by capturing an important town on Friday in the latest stage of a powerful offensive in northeast Syria, a Kurdish militia spokesman said.
Islamic State has been forced into retreat across parts of the strategic region, a land bridge between territory it controls in Syria and Iraq, even as its fighters have mounted new raids this week on Assyrian Christian villages, abducting more than 200 people.
The capture of Tel Hamis was announced by the Kurdish YPG militia and confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the country’s civil war.
“The flag is flying over Tel Hamis. We are now combing the city for terrorists and mines,” militia spokesman Redur Xelil told Reuters.
“Daesh continue to have a considerable number of territories and forces. But we can say we have stopped its advance,” Xelil said, using the Arabic acronym of Islamic State
The British-based Observatory said Kurdish forces killed at least 175 members and commanders of the ultra-hardline Islamist militants in an offensive which began last weekend.
“The bodies of these fighters are still with the Kurdish militants,” said the Observatory’s head Rami Abdulrahman. He said the Kurds, with backing from U.S.-led air strikes, have taken at least 103 villages in the area and are now in the village of Suleima on the border with Iraq.
The United States and its allies have carried out hundreds of air strikes in Iraq and Syria since launching a campaign to “degrade and destroy” Islamic State, which last year declared a “caliphate” on territory it has captured in both countries.
Kurdish forces dealt a blow to Islamic State by capturing an important town on Friday in the latest stage of a powerful offensive in northeast Syria, a Kurdish militia spokesman said.
Islamic State has been forced into retreat across parts of the strategic region, a land bridge between territory it controls in Syria and Iraq, even as its fighters have mounted new raids this week on Assyrian Christian villages, abducting more than 200 people.
The capture of Tel Hamis was announced by the Kurdish YPG militia and confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the country’s civil war.
“The flag is flying over Tel Hamis. We are now combing the city for terrorists and mines,” militia spokesman Redur Xelil told Reuters.
“Daesh continue to have a considerable number of territories and forces. But we can say we have stopped its advance,” Xelil said, using the Arabic acronym of Islamic State
The British-based Observatory said Kurdish forces killed at least 175 members and commanders of the ultra-hardline Islamist militants in an offensive which began last weekend.
“The bodies of these fighters are still with the Kurdish militants,” said the Observatory’s head Rami Abdulrahman. He said the Kurds, with backing from U.S.-led air strikes, have taken at least 103 villages in the area and are now in the village of Suleima on the border with Iraq.
The United States and its allies have carried out hundreds of air strikes in Iraq and Syria since launching a campaign to “degrade and destroy” Islamic State, which last year declared a “caliphate” on territory it has captured in both countries.
