IS militants storm Syria's northern city of Hasaka

Islamic State (IS) militants on Thursday launched a major offensive on Syria's northern city of Hasaka, a monitor group reported.

Intense clashes broke out between Syrian government forces and IS militants in the southern districts of Hasaka, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The London-based watchdog said the battles were coupled with intense shelling by both sides, and government airstrikes against the positions overran by IS in southern Hasaka.

IS militants detonated at least one booby-trapped vehicle at a government troops' checkpoint at the western entrance of Hasaka, said the Observatory, adding that the militants reached the Sport City street, adjacent to the Central Prison and the Criminal Intelligence Branch, after storming districts of Nashweh and Sharia in the southern and southwestern parts of Hasaka.

According to the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground inside Syria, at least 30 government soldiers and 20 IS militants were killed during Thursday's battles.

Meanwhile, Syria's state-run al-Ekhbarieh TV said government troops are fighting intense battles against IS militants in Nashweh neighborhood, which, it said, houses many displaced families from the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, where the IS holds considerable sway.

It said the IS are committing crimes against the residents of that neighborhood.

The Kurds in Hasaka have a large community in the northern and northwestern parts of that city while the government troops hold positions in the southern part of Hasaka.

The Ekhbarieh TV said Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units are monitoring the battles in southern Hasaka without intervening.

Earlier this week, the IS staged several car bombings in Hasaka, leaving dozens of people wounded or killed.

The attack on Hasaka on Thursday has been the second in June.

The last attack was foiled by government forces, and the Kurdish fighters said then also that they would not interfere in the battles.

Abdul-Karim Sorkhan, a Kurdish leader, said both the Syrian forces and IS are antagonist to the Kurds, and that the Kurdish fighters are on standby to protect the densely Kurdish populated areas in the northern and western parts of the city.

Observers said the IS wants to storm Hasaka to revenge the losses it suffered at the hands of Kurdish fighters in predominantly Kurdish areas in northern Syria.

The group also wants to capture Hasaka to connect areas under its control in eastern Syria with its de facto capital of Raqqa province in northern Syria. Endit