PYD Member: Fresh Operations against ISIL Starts in Syria

A senior member of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) (a Syrian Kurdish political party) announced that the third stage of attacks on the Al-Qaeda linked al-Nusra Front and the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) started in Northeastern Syria today.
“The third stage of military operations against the ISIL and al-Nusra Front in al-Jazeera region, Northeastern Syria, has started,” Mohammad Abyash told FNA on Wednesday.

“The Kurdish units supported by the people gained full control over al-Yarubiya city after killing all members of the ISIL (deployed in the region),” he added.

Yarubiya city is located near Reef Hasaka in Northeastern Syria.

Yesterday, a senior Syrian Kurd politician praised the Kurdish fighters for their recent victories against the Al-Qaeda terrorists in Reef (countryside of) Yarubiya, reiterating that Kurds’ control over Yarubiya heralds a strategic change in the battlefield.
“Kurdish militants from the Committees for the Protection of the Kurdish People are now in control of Yarubiya border region and they are now advancing in the region to take full control of Yarubiya city and the plants and factories in the region,” Secretary-General of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria Jamal Molla Mahmoud told FNA on Tuesday.

He said that the recent clashes between Kurdish fighters and Al-Qaeda militants in Yarubiya should be seen as a turning point in the ongoing battles in the region because Yarubiya border passage is of strategic importance because of being located on the Iraq-Syria border region and its proximity to the Iraq-Syria international highway.

Molla Mahmoud pointed to the cause of internal clashes among Syrian militants, and said different groups are pursuing different causes, which are at times contradictory.

“The terrorists groups fighting in Syria, including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al-Nusra Front, are pursuing the policies of certain regional countries, including Turkey. These policies include checking Kurds’ situation in Syria which displays how concerned they are about the progress and improvement of the conditions of Kurds in Syria.”

On Tuesday, the Kurdish fighters made major advances against the Al-Qaeda terrorists in Reef (countryside of) Yarubiya and set ablaze two oil tankers stolen by the militants.

Kurdish militants from Committees for the Protection of the Kurdish People seized and torched two crude oil tankers that the Al-Nusra Front terrorists had stolen from Al-Fazel Fuel Station in Reef Yarubiya.

The Syrian Kurdish fighters have intensified their attacks against the Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists in recent weeks.

On Saturday, the Kurdish fighters seized the sole border post held by Al-Qaeda-linked groups on their border with Iraq, Kurdish sources and an Iraqi official said.

Kurdish militants seized the border post on Saturday, after three days of clashes with an Al-Qaeda-linked group which had held the crossing since March.

According to the armed Kurdish group YPG, fighting carried on through the morning.

The Yarubiya post and surrounding areas in the Northeast were taken from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorist group which is an offshoot of Al-Qaeda in Syria. An Iraqi intelligence official confirmed that Kurdish rebels held the crossing point, adding that Baghdad brought reinforcements to the area to prevent any spillover of violence.