New blow: Syria Kurds advance after seizing base from IS

Kurdish fighters and their allies have captured an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) military base that is the first defence line north of ISIL’s de facto capital of Raqqa in northern Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Kurdish activist Mustafa Bali said that Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units (YPG) had captured the base known as Brigade 93 near the town of Ayn Issa on Monday night. ISIL fighters had taken control of the base last August.

For the Kurds, it’s significant because it means they can consolidate their territory by connecting Kurdish enclaves in Kobane to the west and Hasakah to the east.

Andrew Tabler, an expert on Syria at the Washington Institute for Near East policy

Monday’s development was the second major setback for ISIL in northern Syria in weeks, after YPG fighters and allied rebel factions last week captured the nearby town of Tal Abyad on the Turkish border. Since Tal Abyad was liberated last week, a steady stream of people have been returning, and sources have told Al Jazeera that ample quantities of bread and other food supplies are already available in the town. Kurdish fighters and Syrian rebels began their main advance on the town on June 11, backed by air strikes from the US-led coalition.

Middle East Raqqa