Hold on a Minute
- Syria is attacking ISIS, but Comrade Obama and the Republicans want to overthrow the anti-ISIS government of Syria. Call me a "crazy" Blogger but I can smell that bullshit all the way here to my home in the People's Republic of California.
The Daily Star - BEIRUT: Syrian regime forces and Kurdish militia fought separate battles with ISIS militants in a strategic area near the Iraqi and Turkish borders, a monitoring group said.
Forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) launched uncoordinated offensives against ISIS in the northeastern province of Hassakeh, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Observatory head Rami Abdel-Rahman told AFP that after three days of clashes, regime forces bolstered by fighters from Arab tribes had secured control over 23 villages in the center of the province from ISIS. Syria’s official news agency SANA put the number at 31.
State television said the army offensive would continue until it controlled the main road linking the provincial capital Hassakeh and the city of Qamishli.
A video released by the New York Times shows Syrian rebels about to execute stripped and bound soldiers loyal to President Bashar Assad Read more: The Times of Israel |
“ISIS has launched counterattacks on regime checkpoints, while the regime fortifies its positions with support from local Arab tribes,” Abdel Rahman added.
He said YPG fighters were meanwhile also battling ISIS alongside Arab tribes outside the village of Tal Tamr in Hassakeh’s southwest. “The YPG fighters in Tal Tamr are shelling ISIS around the area to lure ISIS to respond, so they can identify their positions” and call for strikes by the U.S.-led coalition waging an air campaign against ISIS, he said.
“But ISIS is avoiding any response in order not to give away its positions.”
YPG spokesman Redur Khalil confirmed to AFP that the Kurdish fighters were conducting “attack-and-retreat” operations with ISIS on two fronts.“The first is around Tal Tamr, in order to retake Assyrian towns in the area, and the second is around Tal Brak,” a town between Hassakeh and Qamishli, he said.
ISIS launched an attack last week on the areas around Kurdish-controlled Tal Tamr and kidnapped 220 Assyrian Christians from 11 villages. Nineteen of them were freed Sunday after ransoms were paid.
Control of Hassakeh province is split among ISIS, regime fighters and Kurdish militia, with overlap at a number of points.
Read more at the Daily Star.
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