A Turkish Kurdish boy stands near the Mursitpinar border gate in Suruc in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, as smoke rises in the Syrian town of Kobani in the background on June 27, 2015. (REUTERS/Murad Sezer)Beirut, Reuters—Syrian Kurdish fighters said they had fully secured the town of Kobani near the Turkish border on Saturday and killed more than 60 Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, two days after the hardline group launched an incursion with suicide bombers.
Further east, ISIS pressed another assault on government-held areas of Al-Hasakah city, clashing with the Syrian army after blowing up a security building late on Friday and triggering a government appeal for residents to take up arms.
“The people of the governorate and its surroundings continue to sign up with the Syrian Arab Army in its fight against terror,” state television said in a news flash on Saturday and played archive footage of soldiers set to rousing music.
Hasakah’s governor described the situation as “fine” but also called on residents to defend it in a phone call with state TV.
The twin assaults on Kobani and Hasakah came after ISIS suffered two weeks of defeats at the hands of Kurdish-led forces, supported by US-led airstrikes.
Redur Xelil, spokesman for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, said Kobani was quiet and the YPG was combing the town for any hidden ISIS fighters.
The YPG blew up a school building used by ISIS in the town earlier on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said, and plumes of smoke could be seen from the Turkish side of the border rising into the air.
The Observatory said a US-led airstrike killed at least 18 ISIS fighters near Kobani. ISIS killed around 200 civilians since the assault which started on Thursday, the Observatory said, describing it as one of the worst massacres committed by the group in Syria.
Battle for Hasakah city
In Syria’s northeast, Kurdish forces and the army fought separate battles with the group around the city overnight. The YPG’s Xelil said the Kurds were not fighting with ISIS on Saturday.
The Observatory said fierce battles continued in the southwest, south and southeast on Saturday.
ISIS launched its offensive on government-held areas of Hasakah on Thursday and the United Nations says the violence is estimated to have displaced up to 120,000 people.
“We want to reassure people in the governorate…Hasakah is fine,” Governor Mohammad Zaal Al-Ali told state TV but also echoed a government call for people to come back and defend their homes alongside the army.
“All of the people of the governorate who want to pick up arms to defend it,” he added. He said the air force had been carrying out frequent bombardments against ISIS.
Hasakah province is important because it sits between ISIS-held territory in Syria and Iraq and reaches north to the Turkish border. The city is divided into areas run separately by President Bashar Al-Assad’s government and Kurdish authorities.
The assault will test the army’s capacity to hold on to areas far from the major government-held cities in the west. The YPG, which controls northern parts of the city, says it does not cooperate with government forces.
ISIS said in statements posted online on Saturday it had attacked areas east of the city and in a video posted on YouTube said it had entered western areas.
Late on Friday Damascus called on Hasakah residents to take up arms in defense.
“I call on every man, every young woman and every young man able to carry weapons to move immediately and join the frontline positions to defend the city,” Syrian Information Minister Omran Al-Zoubi said on state television.
The post Kurds secure Syria’s Kobani as ISIS targets northeast appeared first on ASHARQ AL-AWSAT.
Source: Asharq Alawsat
Full Article: Kurds secure Syria’s Kobani as ISIS targets northeast
