Syrian Kurds say thwart big Daesh attack on border town

BEIRUT — A Syrian Kurdish militia said it had recovered full control of the border town of Tel Abyad on Wednesday after Daesh militants raided its outskirts the day before in preparation for a larger assault.

Backed by US-led air strikes, the Kurdish YPG militia and smaller Syrian rebel groups captured Tel Abyad from Daesh on June 15, severing an important supply route for the militants between the Turkish border and its de facto capital of Raqqa city to the south.

YPG spokesman Redur Xelil said Daesh militants were repelled overnight after they briefly wrested control of an area on Tel Abyad’s eastern periphery.

“The situation in Tel Abyad is over and under control,” he told Reuters. Three Daesh militants had been killed in the fighting, and a fourth had blown himself up with an explosive belt.

Daesh went back on the offensive in Syria last week, raiding Kurdish-controlled Kobani — also known as Ayn Al Arab — while simultaneously launching an attack on government-held areas of the northeastern city of Hasaka.

Daesh raid on Kobani killed more than 220 civilians — one of its worst mass killings to date. The YPG said it reestablished full control over Kobani on Saturday, killing more than 60 Daesh militants who had raided the town.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the YPG had re-established control over the Tel Abyad district raided on Tuesday. But with such a low death toll among Daesh militants, it questioned where the remaining militants had gone.

YPG’s success against Daesh is one of the few bright spots for the US strategy aimed at rolling back the jihadist group in Iraq and Syria.

YPG is to date the only significant partner for a US-led air campaign in Syria. Washington has shunned the idea of cooperating with Damascus.

The Syrian military has also been partly able to regain areas of the northeastern city of Hasaka lost to Daesh in its attack last week.

The city is divided into zones run separately by YPG and the Syrian government, and is one of President Bashar Al Assad’s last footholds in the northeastern corner of Syria at the border with Iraq and Turkey.

The observatory reported renewed fighting between Daesh and the army and militia fighting alongside it in southwestern Hasaka on Wednesday. Syrian army air strikes were also reported on Daesh positions.

A Syrian military source said: “Islamic State [Daesh] has practically retreated from most of the areas it entered, but there remain some pockets, and the battles are ongoing.”