Syrian Kurds say in near complete control of Hasaka city

Kurdish forces and troops of the Syrian government have combined efforts against the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL) in a move not seen in the past in order to purge the militant group from a city where control is divided between Kurdish groups and the Syrian government. The third involved a 120mm mortar (which failed to explode) that landed near Kurdish positions at the Mosul Dam in northern Iraq.

Chemical weapons were also used by the regime in Syria.

Xelil said the YPG had also taken areas from ISIS within the city itself in the last two days.

It was the first time Islamic State had used poison gas against the YPG, he added. The munitions were said to have caused “loss of focus; loss of consciousness in some cases; pain from the waist down, resulting in temporary, localized paralysis” and other problems.

Vehicle and Sahan Research also investigated possible chemical munitions that ISIL launched in northern Syria – at Tel Brak and Hasakah.

There have been numerous reports of the use of chemical weapons by IS, with the Iraqi military in March saying that soldiers had been targeted with roadside bombs containing chlorine chemical agents, and a United Nations report released the same month alleging the use of chemical weapons as one of a series of war crimes committed by Is. “Again, investigating teams found residues that ’emitted an acrid odor and induced powerful throat and eye irritation.'”. The researchers reported that, at a hospital in Qamishli, several fighters tested positive for PH3, a phosphine-based chemical used as an insecticide or fumigating compound.

On the same day, a rocket struck a home in hasakah, and emitted a dark olive green liquid with a powerful odour that caused throat and eye irritations.

ISIS is experimenting with different designs, said Bevan.

“If they deem this to be militarily effective, then we have suspicion that they will use them again”, he added.

“U.S. aircraft are not coordinating in any way with Syrian government assets, neither directly or through an intermediary, nor have we in the past”, spokesman Major Curtis Kellogg told AFP.