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Roundup: Kurdish fighters seize town from IS in northern Syria

Xinhua, June 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Kurdish-led forces on Tuesday backed by U.S. coalition warplanes captured a town from the Islamic State (IS) group in the northern province of Raqqa.

The People's Protection Units (YPG) and allied forces from Syrian rebel groups succeeded to take control of the town of Ayn Issa in the northern countryside of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the IS terror group, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The IS militants withdrew toward the eastern outskirts of Ain Issa and the northern countryside of Raqqa, the UK-based watchdog group, which tracks the Syrian war, added.

The aerial bombardment of the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition has helped the Kurds achieve their new victory.

Tuesday's achievement capped other victories the Kurds have recently scored against the IS militants in the heart of their stronghold in Syria.

Overnight, the Kurdish fighters captured the IS-held Brigade-93 military base, which was taken from the Syrian government troops last year.

Last week, the YPG-led forces captured the city of Tal Abyad in the northern countryside of Raqqa, on the Syrian-Turkish border.

The Kurdish fighters are apparently working to restore predominantly-Kurdish areas in northern Syria from the IS control to achieve their old dream of having an autonomy.

The Kurds, who make up 15 percent of Syria's 23 million inhabitants with most living in the north of the embattled country, tried during the conflict to keep their areas immune from military operations and retain the kind of "autonomy."

In mid-2012, Syrian troops withdrew from the majority of the Kurdish areas, and Kurdish militia became responsible for security there.

After the emergence of the Islamic State militants, the Kurds got engaged in intense battles with this terror-labelled group, which captured Kurdish areas in northern Syria.

The U.S.-led coalition has aided the Kurds in their battles against the IS, since the start of its strikes against the extremist militants in Syria in September 2014.

By capturing Ain Issa, the Kurdish fighters have become 30 kilometers from the central city of Raqqa, the heart of the IS control in Syria.

The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said the Kurds victory in Ain Issa pushed the defenses of the IS back to the outskirts of the provincial capital of Raqqa, adding that the city of Tal Abyad, which was captured last week by the Kurds, constituted the economic backbone of the IS.

Abdul-Rahman said Syria could witness further collapses of the IS group at any time. Endit