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| Nearly 30 Die as Kurds Take a Syrian Town | Nearly 30 Die as Kurds Take a Syrian Town |
| (7 months later) | |
| BEIRUT, Lebanon — A Kurdish group captured a town in Syria from Islamists fighting in Syria’s civil war on Saturday in a battle that killed 28 fighters, most of them Islamists, a monitoring group reported. | |
| If the Kurds can hold on to the town, Tell Brak, on a highway between the cities of Hasaka and Qamishli, it will be a significant advance in their quest for wider control in the northeast. | If the Kurds can hold on to the town, Tell Brak, on a highway between the cities of Hasaka and Qamishli, it will be a significant advance in their quest for wider control in the northeast. |
| Islamist activists said online that fighting was still going on, but the Britain-based opposition monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Kurdish groups known as People’s Protection Units had taken the town. | Islamist activists said online that fighting was still going on, but the Britain-based opposition monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Kurdish groups known as People’s Protection Units had taken the town. |
| Syrian Kurds have expanded their sway in the northeast, where they are setting up their own administration, since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began three years ago. | Syrian Kurds have expanded their sway in the northeast, where they are setting up their own administration, since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began three years ago. |
| The People’s Protection Units said in a statement that they had taken Tell Brak after a midnight assault on fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and other militants. | The People’s Protection Units said in a statement that they had taken Tell Brak after a midnight assault on fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and other militants. |
| The Kurdish fighters are holding the bodies of 16 “armed mercenaries” and have taken 42 prisoners, the statement said. It said three Kurdish fighters had also been killed. | The Kurdish fighters are holding the bodies of 16 “armed mercenaries” and have taken 42 prisoners, the statement said. It said three Kurdish fighters had also been killed. |
| The Syrian Observatory said at least 25 Islamists had been killed. | The Syrian Observatory said at least 25 Islamists had been killed. |
| Redur Xelil, a spokesman for the People’s Protection Units, said, “The operation was over at 5 a.m. and the armed groups and mercenaries that were there were expelled. | Redur Xelil, a spokesman for the People’s Protection Units, said, “The operation was over at 5 a.m. and the armed groups and mercenaries that were there were expelled. |
| “The town is completely controlled by the People’s Protection Units,” he told Reuters by phone, adding that nearby villages were also under the group’s control. | “The town is completely controlled by the People’s Protection Units,” he told Reuters by phone, adding that nearby villages were also under the group’s control. |
| Islamists have eclipsed secular groups in the revolt against Mr. Assad, but are also now at war with each other in much of Syria, with the Nusra Front and other Islamists fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a jihadist group that had been allied with Al Qaeda until Al Qaeda severed ties this month. They have also fought the Kurds. | Islamists have eclipsed secular groups in the revolt against Mr. Assad, but are also now at war with each other in much of Syria, with the Nusra Front and other Islamists fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a jihadist group that had been allied with Al Qaeda until Al Qaeda severed ties this month. They have also fought the Kurds. |
| Long oppressed by the Syrian government, the Kurds have been largely left to their own devices by Syrian government forces fighting rebels elsewhere. | Long oppressed by the Syrian government, the Kurds have been largely left to their own devices by Syrian government forces fighting rebels elsewhere. |