MESOP FLASH : 86 ISIL fighters killed in Sere Kaniye clashes: YPG General Command

ARA News  – 31.5.2014 – Qamishli, Syria – The General Command of the Popular Protection Units (YPG) –Kurdish military forces linked to the Democratic Union Party (PYD)– issued a statement on Friday saying that 86 militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were killed during the past two days’ clashes between their forces (YPG) and ISIL group in the countryside Sere Kaniye city in Hasakah province, northeast of Syria, where both sides used tanks and heavy weapons.

The YPG General Command’s statement, of which ARA News received a copy, said that the ISIL “tried to occupy several Kurdish villages on Wednesday evening”, including al-Rawiya, Tel Khanzir, Tel Bilal and al-Firesa, “but failed as our YPG fighters responded to this aggressive attack”.

“Fierce clashes erupted between our YPG forces and ISIL group who used heavy weapons, tanks, guns, and mobilized large numbers of troops from Tel Abyad and Raqqa to fight our forces,” the statement read. “Clashes continued until the evening of the next day (Thursday) as ISIL was exposed to large losses.”

The statement pointed out to the “massacre” committed by ISIL militants against civilians in Tileliya village near Sere Kaniye, saying: “In Sere Kaniye, ISIL used tanks, guns and heavy weapons, as well as detonating a car bomb in the village of Themad among civilians committing a massacre against both Kurdish Yezidi village of Tileliya and al-Qonjaq, which remained out of our forces’ control”. “They (ISIL militants) took advantage of our absence from these villages and killed dozens of civilians,” the YPG General Command said. The General Command accused ISIL group of practising brutal behaviour against Kurdish as well as Arab civilians in several areas in northern Syria, and considered the group “a threat to the peaceful coexistence in these areas”.

“Many women, children and elderly were seen slaughtered brutally in Tileliya village,” the statement said. The statement also announced the deaths of 16 fighters from the YPG during the clashes with ISIL over the last two days. The YPG General Command also called on Kurdish youth in Syria to join their ranks “to cleanse the region from ISIL” and “defend their own people”.

The statement also demanded “residents of the region” to participate in the funeral of the “YPG martyrs” who, according to the General Command, “sacrificed for our safety”.Ahmed Khalil, civil activist from Sere Kaniye, reported to ARA News earlier on Thursday that the ISIL militants executed nearly 40 civilians in the Yezidi village of Tileliya in the countryside of Sere Kaniye city, confirming that most of the victims were children and women. Reporting by: Dilshad Mohammed