Free Republic

Turkey attacks YPG positions north Syria, Kurds respond ARA News Tel Abyad – Turkey’s military targeted a headquarters of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) near the city of Tel Abyad in northern Syria. “The Turkish artillery bombed the YPG-held village of Khenitiya in Tel Abyad countryside, targeting a YPG security office,” YPG officer Salih Watti told ARA News. The attack, which took place in the afternoon on Wednesday, only caused material damage. No casualties were reported. However, the Kurdish YPG responded to the fire by launching artillery shells at Turkish Army installations near the Syrian border. It was not...

(Reuters) - A Syrian Kurdish militia said on Wednesday it had recovered full control of the border town of Tel Abyad after Islamic State fighters raided its outskirts the day before in preparation for a larger assault. Backed by U.S.-led air strikes, the Kurdish YPG militia and smaller Syrian rebel groups captured Tel Abyad from Islamic State on June 15, severing an important supply route for the militants between the Turkish border and its de facto capital of Raqqa city to the south. The YPG militia said the militants entered Tel Abyad's eastern

In the latest of a series of revelations, the Turkish authorities have allegedly been providing electricity to Tel Abyad -- a northern Syrian city just across the border from the Turkish city of Akçakale -- which is controlled by militants linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). More stunning is the not-so-secret presence of ISIL militants on the streets of Akçakale, in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, a reporter with the Birgün daily claimed in a piece published on Friday. His account echoes many other reports, revealing the risks Turkey is facing as fighting between Kurdish...