Syrian Kurds push deeper into Daesh stronghold

(MENAFN- Arab News) BEIRUT: The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said it began an advance toward a town held by the Daesh (Arabic name for the Islamic State group) at the Turkish border on Saturday thrusting deeper into the jihadists' stronghold of Raqqa province in a campaign backed by US-led air strikes.
Redur Xelil the YPG spokesman told Reuters the YPG and smaller Syrian Arab rebel groups fighting alongside it had begun the move toward Tel Abyad after encircling the town of Suluk 20 km (12 miles) to the southeast.
The advance raises the prospect of a battle at the Turkish border between the well-organized YPG militia and Daesh. Tel Abyad is important to Islamic State as the nearest border town to its de facto capital of Raqqa city.
Fighting near the border has already forced more than 13000 people to cross into Turkey from Syria. Some 1500 more are waiting to cross. Turkish soldiers sprayed water and fired into the air when some of them approached the border fence on Saturday a security source said.
The YPG has made a determined push into Raqqa province from neighboring Hasaka where with the help of the US-led alliance it has driven Daesh from wide areas of territory since early May.
'The move toward Tel Abyad from the east began today after the completion of the Suluk blockade' Xelil said. 'Many of the Daesh militants have fled (Suluk) apart from a group of suicide attackers inside the town and the booby traps so we are very cautious about entering the town center' he added via Skype.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights a UK-based organization that tracks the war said the YPG fighters were now half-way between Suluk and Tel Abyad situated across the border from the Turkish town of Akcakle.

Turkey's worries
For the YPG seizing Tel Abyad would help them link up Kurdish-controlled areas in Hasaka province and Kobani.
The expansion of Kurdish influence in Syria near the border with Turkey is a concern for Ankara which has long been worried about separatism among its own Kurdish population.
The Turkish authorities have closed Akcakale to vehicles and it has been months since they allowed anyone to cross from Tel Abyad into Turkey. However Turkey still allows people with a valid passport to cross into Syria from Akcakle.
The Turkish military has dug trenches in the border area.
With the help of US-led air strikes the YPG fended off a Daesh attack on the border town of Kobani or Ayn Al-Arab in January. Since then the YPG has emerged as the most significant partner on the ground in Syria for the US-led alliance that is trying to roll back Daesh militants.
Washington has ruled out the idea of partnering with President Bashar Assad who last month lost the city of Palmyra in central Syria to Daesh the first time the jihadists seized a city directly from government control.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday accused the West of bombing Arabs and Turks in Syria while supporting Kurdish 'terrorist' groups he said were filling the void left behind.
Xelil said: 'The help of the alliance forces has been very effective and accurate in its target selection.'
The YPG is affiliated to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. The PKK is considered a terrorist group by Ankara the United States and European Union.

(Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Seyhmus Cakan in Turkey.)