Kurdish groups capture new positions in
Syrian city: official
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[August 19, 2016]
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian Kurdish
militia have seized several positions from government forces in the
divided city of Hasaka, a Kurdish official said on Friday, expanding
their control in one of the heaviest clashes yet between Kurdish groups
and the government.
The fighting this week led to the first use of Syrian air force jets
against Kurdish groups that are a crucial ally of the United States in
its fight against Islamic State insurgents. The government has not
commented on the fighting.
The Kurdish YPG militia holds wide areas of northern Syria, where its
political allies have set up an autonomous government since Syria's
civil war began in 2011. The government still has a foothold in the
cities of Hasaka and Qamishli.
The Kurdish forces, which already hold most of Hasaka city, had taken
government-held buildings including an economics college, said Naser Haj
Mansour, a Kurdish official in the YPG- affiliated Syria Democratic
Forces alliance.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reports on the war using
an activist network, said Kurdish forces had gained ground in the
southern part of the city.
The YPG and Syrian government have mostly avoided confrontation during
the multi-sided war, which turned Syria into a patchwork of areas held
by the state and an array of armed factions.
Kurdish groups are working to develop their autonomy in northern Syria
into a federal system of government - a plan opposed by President Bashar
al-Assad.
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Rami Abdulrahman, Observatory director, said the fighting began
after pro-government militiamen detained Kurdish youths, a step that
had followed advances by Kurdish security forces toward
government-held areas.
It is the second major eruption of fighting between the YPG and
Syrian government fighters this year. In April, the sides fought
several days of lethal battles in Qamishli, north of Hasaka city at
the Turkish border. It is also mostly YPG-held.
The Observatory says at least 13 people, including children and
women, have been killed as a result of shelling by the army on
Kurdish-controlled areas of Hasaka.
It said many civilians were fleeing areas affected by the fighting
to safety, and hospitals in Kurdish areas of the city did not have
enough blood and medicines to treat the wounded.
(Reporting by Tom Perry; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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