MESOP : TODAY’S SITUATION IN HASAKAH (SYRIAN KURDISTAN) – Kurdish forces & Syrian army push ISIS back
ARA News – 6 Feb 2015 – Hasakah, Syria – The Syrian regime’s military forces –backed by the Maghawir Militia and Kurds – reported advances in the eastern and southeastern areas of the Hasakah countryside, in northeastern Syria, exploiting popular discontent of villages on the Islamic State (IS/ISIS).
Following Maghawir Militia’s advancement during the recent operations in Hasakah earlier this week, dozens of Arab youth from the Sharabiya joined the militia’s ranks to fight against the IS, a local source told ARA News. The source pointed out that the prohibitive laws and restrictions of the IS group on the region’s youth were in the interest of the pro-Assad militias, pointing out that the regime regained control of large parts of the Hasakah countryside, including the villages of Bab al-Khair and Sabaa Skor –adjacent to the town of Melabiya (12 km south of Hasakah), which is held by the IS group for nearly a year. In the meantime, the Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) seized the Assyrian village of Tel Hormuz on the western bank of the Khabur River after the IS expulsion from the area, a member of the YPG Media Center told ARA News on Thursday. The source added that warplanes of the U.S.-led coalition targeted strongholds of IS near Mount Abdul Aziz in the Hasakah suburbs.
On the other hand, local residents from the town of Tel Brak (40 km eastern Hasakah) reported that forces of the YPG and the Syrian troops have brought heavy weapons to the town’s suburbs.
“The YPG and other forces are preparing a military operation against the IS-held town of Tel Brak. Pro-regime forces bombed northern parts of the town on Thursday evening, which caused a large displacement among civilians as well as a state of alert in the ranks of IS militants,” an eyewitness told ARA News under the condition of anonymity. In a related development, the Syrian regime forces renewed Wednesday their shelling on the town of Tel Hamis in the southern countryside of Qamishli in northeastern Syria, in conjunction with clashes between the regime’s forces and the IS hardline group in Hasakah’s countryside.