Akçakale, Turkey--Kurdish forces battled Monday to cut a key Islamic State supply line by seizing the border town of Tal Abyad, as terrified Syrians poured into Turkey to escape the fighting.
Forces from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) backed by Syrian rebels advanced on the southeastern edge of the border town overnight, backed by US-led strikes against IS fighters, a monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Kurdish forces had seized the Mashur Tahtani area on the southeastern edge of Tal Abyad, with the US-led coalition carrying out at least five strikes overnight.
"The strikes are paving the way for the advance of the Kurdish and rebel forces," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
He said at least 11 IS fighters had been killed in clashes and US-led strikes overnight, along with three YPG forces.
Kurdish fighters and Syrian rebels began their advance on Tal Abyad on June 4, and have largely surrounded the IS stronghold, prompting thousands of civilians to flee the fighting.
About 16,000 people have fled into Turkey since last week, but the border has closed sporadically.
The flood of refugees has created chaos at times, with some cutting through the border fence or scrambling over loops of barbed wire in frustration at the delay in crossing.
Parents passed screaming children over one section of trampled fencing, and a mother grasped her baby by one arm, a pacifier dangling from its neck.
AFP
