IS detain 900 Kurdish civilians in northern Syria in 3 weeks

Islamic State fighters have abducted around 900 Kurds in Aleppo over the past three weeks, according to a Kurdish official and Syrian activists.

SDF fighters were pushing into a western part of the town, between the Kitab and Sharia roundabouts, supported by US -led coalition air strikes, it said.

ISIL has been in control of the city since 2014, but has recently suffered a series of battlefield defeats in both Syria and Iraq.

“The SAC-led force is exercising great care in its application of firepower against Da’esh in the city to avoid collateral damage and especially civilian casualties”, Colonel Garver said.

The monitor said heavy clashes were taking place in western districts of Manbij after the fighters swept into the city near the Kutab roundabout, nearly 2 km (1.2 miles) from the city centre.

An SDF commander at the front told AFP that IS fighters were using auto bombs and other explosives to try to slow the assault.

“Whenever Daesh is defeated, they retaliate against civilians”, Darwish said.

A statement from the SDF alliance on June 21 said they had thwarted an ISIL counter-attack outside Manbij which included the use of vehicles laden with explosives.

“We’re around the city and we’re coming in, and we’ve cut the lines of communication into it and the noose is getting tighter around the city”, Baghdad-based U.S. Army Colonel Chris Garver told reporters.

If successful it could pave the way for an assault on their Syrian capital Raqqa.

Last week, the USA -led coalition conducted 73 strikes on Daesh, bringing the total number of strikes in and around Manbij to 233 since the assault began late last month.

Formed in October 2015, the 25,000-strong SDF is dominated by the powerful Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), but includes an Arab contingent of about 5,000 fighters. It has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions. “It’s a matter of definition”, Chalmers said of the estimates of progress against ISIS in Manbij.

The northern province of Syria has seen fierce fighting since 31 May, when Syrian government forces launched a campaign to re-capture nearby Manbij from IS. A corridor out of the city accessible to the rebel-held areas has also come under intense bombing.

And seven civilians, including two children, died in regime air strikes on rebel-held eastern neighbourhoods, the monitor added.