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Islamic State re-captures part of key Kurdish-held border town in Syria

Kurdish YPG forces seized control of Tell Abiad from the Islamic State earlier this month, cutting the extremist group off from a vital supply route to its capital in Raqqa.

By Fred Lambert
Islamic State fighters counter-attacked Kurdish forces in the town of Tell Abiad in northern Syria on Tuesday, capturing a district in the city's eastern outskirts, according to a human rights monitoring group. The Kurds seized the town earlier this month, depriving IS forces in their de-facto capital of Raqqa, 60 miles to the south, of a vital supply point for weapons and fighters flowing in from Turkey. Image from Google Maps
Islamic State fighters counter-attacked Kurdish forces in the town of Tell Abiad in northern Syria on Tuesday, capturing a district in the city's eastern outskirts, according to a human rights monitoring group. The Kurds seized the town earlier this month, depriving IS forces in their de-facto capital of Raqqa, 60 miles to the south, of a vital supply point for weapons and fighters flowing in from Turkey. Image from Google Maps

TELL ABIAD, Syria, June 30 (UPI) -- Islamic State militants re-captured from Kurdish forces a district in a strategic border town in Syria, according to a human rights monitoring group.

On Tuesday IS fighters gained control over the Mashor Foqani district on the eastern outskirts of the town of Tell Abiad, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

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Kurdish forces in Syria, known as People's Protection Units, or the YPG, seized the Syria-Turkey border town on June 16, depriving IS forces in their de-facto capital of Raqqa, 60 miles south, of a vital supply point for weapons and fighters.

The Kurdish capture of Tell Abiad was preceded by YPG seizures of several villages in the countryside north of Raqqa and followed by last week's IS loss of Ain Issa, a village lying on a strategic road intersection 30 miles north of the IS capital.

The Kurdish capture of Tell Abiad allowed YPG forces to link with Kurds in the east toward the Iraqi border and west, toward Kobani, where a months-long battle ended IS domination in January.

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The fresh IS assault on Tell Abiad joins other counter-attacks over the past week, including an IS incursion into Kobani that has resulted in hundreds of deaths, the BBC reports.

SOHR, a Britain-based group that monitors the civil war in Syria, reported that dozens of IS militants still occupy villages between the Aleppo and Hasakah provinces and the Turkish border.

YPG forces are now reportedly attempting to encircle IS fighters in Tell Abiad and prevent further counter-thrusts.

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