Syrian Kurds retake town, hunt militants

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Kurdish forces backed by US-led strikes hunted down Islamic State group militants yesterday after fending off an assault on a town near IS's de facto Syrian capital, the Kurds and a monitor said.

Kurdish forces had seized Ain Issa on June 23, but on Monday militants launched a new assault on the town located 55km from Raqa.

"Ain Issa was liberated and IS fighters were driven out," the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) said on Twitter.

"The town is totally under the control of the Kurdish People's Protection Units after the death of dozens of mercenaries," the YPG said without elaborating.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said the Kurds were in control of Ain Issa, and that they were now trying to track down any IS fighters who have gone into hiding.

The battle between the Kurds and the militants is one of many active fronts of the Syrian civil war.

The YPG have been backed from the air by an international coalition that has been carrying out air raids on IS in Syria since September 2014, helping them to recapture ground lost to the militants.

A drone strike as part of the US-led air campaign against IS killed a senior figure from the group in Raqa city overnight, the Observatory said earlier yesterday. The strike killed an Uzbek leader of the group involved in security as he sat in a car outside a downtown hotel.

The United States says it has intensified the aerial campaign against IS in Syria with a wave of strikes in and around Raqa city.

US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said on Monday heavy bombardment during the weekend that also included destroying bridges over waterways in the city, which is bordered to the south by the Euphrates river, was aimed at further eroding the militants' capabilities.