The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

Kurds, rebels advance into Raqqa province

BEIRUT: Syrian Kurdish and rebel forces, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, advanced Thursday into Raqqa province, where the jihadi group ISIS has its de facto capital, a monitor said.

“The YPG [Kurdish People’s Protection Units] and rebel forces captured 19 villages in Raqqa province,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

“The U.S.-led international coalition played a key role in the advance, bombing the ISIS positions and forcing its fighters to withdraw,” Observatory director Rami Abdel-Rahman said.

The advance comes as Kurdish and rebel forces push outwards from the border town of Ain al-Arab, from which they expelled ISIS forces after more than four months of fighting.

Since driving ISIS out of Ain al-Arab on Jan. 26, Kurdish and allied forces have taken much of the surrounding countryside and begun pushing east into neighboring Raqqa province.

They have captured some 242 villages around Ain al-Arab, including the 19 in Raqqa province, according to the Observatory.

They are now 25 kms from Tal Abyad, another Kurdish-majority border town overrun by ISIS.

Located 65 kms east of Ain al-Arab, the town is used by ISIS fighters to cross into Turkey.

Pro-opposition groups reported Thursday that Jarablus, a large ISIS-held town to the west of Ain al-Arab, as well as the border town of Tal Abyad to the east were now vulnerable to attacks by the Kurdish and rebel fighters.

Several Free Syrian Army-aligned militias are fighting alongside the Kurdish YPG, some of which are made up of residents of Raqqa and Deir al-Zor provinces, which are almost all under the control of ISIS.

 

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