Tue Aug 20, 2013 13:49:15
Kurdish militias and al-Qaida-linked terrorist groups are reportedly engaged in fierce clashes in northeastern Syria.
The fighting between Kurdish gunmen and the terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is underway in three villages near the town of Ras al-Ayn in Hassakeh Province on Tuesday.
Hassakeh is home to a large Syrian Kurdish population.
Around 30,000 Syrians, the vast majority of them Kurds, have fled the region in recent days and crossed the border to the self-ruled Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
The fighting between Kurds and the foreign-backed militants in Syria has sharply escalated in recent months, with Kurdish fighter inflicted heavy losses on the terrorists.
Syria's unrest has spilled across the Iraqi frontier, with al-Nusra Front terrorist group merging this year with Iraq's branch of al-Qaeda.
On the Iraqi side of the border, al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for repeated bombings targeting civilians and the security forces that have brought violence to levels unseen in more than five years, before US troops withdrew in 2011.
BA/BA
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