Dozens killed as IS takes battle to Kurds

Fighters launch tank, heavy weapons assault in northeast Syria to regain ground

HUNDREDS of Islamic State fighters have launched an attack on Kurdish forces in north-eastern Syria, triggering fierce fighting that has killed dozens on both sides, a group monitoring the war said yesterday.

The Kurdish YPG militia, backed by US-led air strikes, had made significant gains in recent weeks against IS in the region, cutting an important supply route from territory controlled by the militant group in Iraq.

IS appeared to try to seize back the initiative on Tuesday, attacking Kurdish forces using tanks and heavy weapons around Ras al-Ayn town near the Turkish border, the Britain- based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

An official in a Kurdish-run defence council in the area also reported heavy clashes in the area of Ras al-Ayn and said the Kurdish forces had been forced to withdraw from a nearby village.

“There are martyrs and dead but the number of martyrs is unknown so far,” the official said.

The fighting continued into yesterday. It was not clear exactly how many fighters had been killed on both sides.

The Kurdish campaign in north-eastern Syria has been closely co-ordinated with the US-led coalition that is fighting to roll back IS in Syria and Iraq.

The YPG has emerged as the main partner for the US-led alliance fighting IS on the ground in Syria. Backed by Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters and air strikes, the YPG defeated IS in the border town of Kobani in January.

After rapid advances against IS, the YPG announced on February 27 it had seized the strategically important town of Tel Hamis from IS.

The US-led alliance said on Tuesday that forces opposed to IS had seized key territory near Tel Hamis last week. It did not identify them as the YPG, instead describing the fighters as “anti-Isil forces”.

The alliance said the operation in northeastern Syria had “denied (IS) access to primary travel routes historically used to move its personnel and materials into Iraq – namely Tal Afar and Mosul.”

It said it would continue to support efforts to attack and defeat IS.

“The determination of these anti-Isil forces and our precision airstrikes enabled us to deny Daesh this key terrain in Syria,” Lieutenant-General James Terry said.

The battle for Kobani was the first publicly-declared example of US-led forces closely co-ordinating militarily with a ground force to battle IS.

The US says it wants to train and equip non-jihadist groups to fight IS elsewhere in Syria. The training is due to get under way in Jordan this month. – Reuters