THU 28 - 3 - 2024
 
Date: Jun 24, 2015
Source: The Daily Star
Syria Kurds seize key town from ISIS
BEIRUT: Syrian Kurds and allied rebels advanced against ISIS Tuesday, capturing a strategic town a day after seizing a base from the militants near their Raqqa bastion.

A spokesman for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and a Britain-based activist group said that anti-ISIS forces took Ain Issa after capturing the nearby Brigade 93 base overnight.

“Ain Issa has come under our full control, along with dozens of villages in the surrounding area,” YPG spokesman Redur Khalil told AFP.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group, said ISIS had withdrawn from the town and YPG and rebel forces were now sweeping it to clear mines laid by the militants.

Ain Issa’s fall comes after ISIS ceded control of the Brigade 93 base Monday night and the border town of Tal Abyad more than a week ago.

Ain Issa and Brigade 93 are around 55 kilometers north of Raqqa, the de facto capital of ISIS’ self-declared Islamic “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq.

They both lie on a main highway between Kurdish-held territory in Aleppo province to the west and Hassakeh province to the east.

The same route links territory held by ISIS militants in Aleppo and Hassakeh provinces.

“It’s also a defense line for Raqqa,” said Mutlu Civiroglu, a Kurdish affairs analyst.

“Considering that Raqqa is a sort of capital of the ‘caliphate,’ it creates a lot of pressure on ISIS.”

However, even with the aid of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, battling even closer to Raqqa could prove costly for the Kurds and allied Syrian rebel factions.

“Operations will continue, but it is imperative that we first attempt to secure areas under our control,” said Nawaf Khalil, head of the Germany-based Kurdish Center for Studies. “Raqqa is a vast area and attacking it will need a great deal of coordination with other groups and the international alliance.”

A U.S. intelligence official said on condition of anonymity the setbacks were “notable” and showed the militants “were vulnerable, especially to motivated and well-equipped forces backed by the coalition.”

The United States has found a reliable partner in the YPG, which has been the main force in the battle against ISIS in Syria. The Kurds are moderate, mostly secular fighters, driven by revolutionary fervor and deep conviction in their cause. They are backed by Arab tribesmen, Assyrian Christian gunmen and members of the rebel faction known as Burkan al-Furat – Arabic for the “Volcano of the Euphrates.”

The recent YPG-rebel advance has been backed by air power from the U.S.-led coalition that is fighting ISIS, with the Observatory saying at least 26 militants were killed in international strikes in and around Ain Issa Monday.

The YPG’s official Facebook page said “dozens of ISIS mercenaries were killed” at the Brigade 93 base.The Observatory Tuesday said that at least 2,896 people – mostly ISIS militants – had been killed in coalition strikes in Syria since the air campaign began on Sept. 23, 2014.

The toll included 2,628 ISIS members, mostly foreign fighters, 105 fighters from ISIS’ rival militant group the Nusra Front, and one Islamist fighter.

According to the Observatory, coalition strikes have also killed 162 civilians, 52 of them children, in Syria.

The Pentagon has acknowledged just two civilian deaths in Syria in the international campaign against ISIS.

Observatory head Rami Abdel-Rahman said ISIS’ defense lines had been “pushed back to the outskirts of Raqqa city.”

The capture of Tal Abyad on June 16 cut off a key conduit for ISIS, which had used the border town to bring in fighters and weapons from Turkey and export black market oil.

Kurdish forces have been chipping away at ISIS territory in the northern Raqqa province for months, after successfully repelling a fierce attack on the border town of Ain al-Arab – Kobane in Kurdish – in January.

The YPG has emerged as “arguably the most effective fighting force against ISIS in Syria,” analyst Sirwan Kajjo said after Tal Abyad’s capture.

“They are well-organized, disciplined and are big believers in their cause,” Kajjo added.

Khalil declined to comment on where the anti-ISIS fighters would focus their attention next, but suggested an operation against Raqqa was unlikely in the short term.

“Raqqa is much further away, and well-defended, it would require significant forces and weapons,” he said.

Civiroglu also said any offensive against Raqqa would require lengthy planning and additional weapons for the YPG and its allies, who would opt to consolidate their hold on Tal Abyad and surrounding areas.



 
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