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IS sends back-up to Syria's Raqqa amid Kurdish progress

Xinhua, June 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Islamic State (IS) group on Wednesday sent reinforcement to its de facto capital of Raqqa in northern Syria, as the Kurdish fighters were closing in on the terror-group's stronghold, a monitor group reported.

A "huge" convoy of 100 vehicles carrying weapons, munitions and militants were sent by the IS group toward the Division-13 military base in northern Raqqa province to fortify its positions against the progress of the Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG), according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Meanwhile, the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said the IS received the reinforcement from the Jarablus area east of the northern province of Aleppo.

Earlier in the day, the TV said the YPG stripped the IS militants of six villages in northern Raqqa.

The villages are located between the town of Ain Issa and the border city of Tal Abyad near Turkey, both have recently been captured by the YPG and allied Syrian rebel groups in northern Raqqa.

The Kurdish fighters have recently made noticeable gains against the IS, capturing several areas in the countryside of Raqqa, in a bid to secure areas densely-populated by Kurds in northern Syria.

The fresh progress pushed the IS to withdraw its defenses to the outskirts of the provincial capital of Raqqa in the face of the YPG forces, which are backed by the airstrikes of the US-led anti-terror coalition, and have become 30 kilometers from the central city of Raqqa .

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-labeled 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. Enditem