Kurds seize border post in battle for Syrian town

Kurdish forces on Monday seized a post on Syria's border with Turkey, a vital supply line to the Islamic State group, as they battle for the jihadist-held town of Tal Abyad. The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) took up positions on the Syrian side of the border post, an AFP photographer said, after they advanced on Tal Abyad from east and west and cut the road south to Raqa, the IS de facto capital.
"Tal Abyad is completely surrounded," said YPG commander Hussein Khojer. "There is nowhere Daesh can escape to," he said, using the Arabic acronym for IS. Sherfan Darwish, a spokesman for the Burkan al-Furat rebel group fighting alongside the YPG, said the anti-IS alliance was on the eastern and southern outskirts of Tal Abyad. "There are ongoing clashes and the bodies of 19 IS fighters are on the outskirts of Tal Abyad," he said. The advance is a blow to the jihadist group, which is battling to hold onto Tal Abyad and preserve its main supply line between Raqa and the Turkish border.