Kurdish fighters dislodge IS from 6 villages in Syria
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E-mail Xinhua, June 25, 2015
The Kurdish fighters on Wednesday stripped the Islamic State (IS) militants of six villages in northern Syria, according to the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV.
The Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG) backed by other Syrian rebel groups continued to advance in the stronghold of the IS group in the northern province of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the terror-group, dislodging the IS militants from six new villages, as part of the wide-scale offensive waged by the Kurds.
The villages are located between the town of Ain Issa and the border city of Tal Abyad near Turkey, both have recently been captured by the YPG and allied Syrian rebel groups in northern Raqqa.
The Kurdish fighters have recently made noticeable gains against the IS, capturing several areas in the countryside of Raqqa, in a bid to secure areas densely-populated by Kurds in northern Syria.
The fresh progress pushed the IS to withdraw its defenses to the outskirts of the provincial capital of Raqqa in the face of the YPG forces, which are backed by the air strikes of the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition, and are 30 km away from the central city of Raqqa.
The Kurds, who make up 15 percent of Syria's 23 million inhabitants with most living in the north of the embattled country, tried during the conflict to keep their areas immune from military operations and retain the kind of "autonomy."
In mid-2012, Syrian troops withdrew from the majority of the Kurdish areas, and Kurdish militia became responsible for security there.
After the emergence of the Islamic State militants, the Kurds got engaged in intense battles with the group, which captured Kurdish areas in northern Syria.
The U.S.-led coalition has aided the Kurds in their battles against the IS since the start of its strikes against the extremist militants in Syria in September 2014.
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