Kurds liberating more Syrian towns from ISIL control

Daily Star:
Syrian activists and Kurdish representatives say Kurdish fighters have captured dozens of villages following days of clashes with the Islamic State group in northeastern Syria.

The Kurdish fighters, known as the People's Protection Units or YPG, have been making territorial gains since capturing the Syrian border town of Kobani last month following a several-month struggle.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Kurdish fighters, supported by Arab militias and airstrikes from the U.S.-backed coalition, captured Friday the eastern and southeastern approaches to the town of Tel Hamees in Hassakeh province.

Nawaf Khalil, a YPG spokesman, says Kurdish forces have actually entered the ISIS-held town.

The Observatory says ground battles and air strikes around Tel Hamees have killed at least 175 ISIS fighters in the past several days.

Additionally, 30 fighters from the YPG and Arab rebel units fighting alongside them have been killed. Among the dead was an Australian, the first Westerner to die in a Kurdish unit in Syria.

The Pentagon said the coalition had carried out several air strikes in Hassakeh province Thursday, including three near Hasakeh city and three near Tel Hamees.
...
The seizure of the hundreds of Christian hostages may have been an attempt to halt the advance since ISIL suggested they might be returned if the US stopped its air strikes.   This looks like another example of Obama's Bergdahl deal coming back to harm innocents.  The AFP is reporting that the strikes are a response to the kidnapping.  But logic suggest it is another war crime that is a defensive move.

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