Kurdish fighters claimed Tuesday to have taken the strategic Syrian town of Tal Abyad from ISIS.
The town is close to the border with Turkey, about 310 miles (500 kilometers) northeast of Damascus, and lies on a main road to Raqqa, the city ISIS considers to be its capital.
Fighting between the Kurdish forces and ISIS went on until dawn Tuesday, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which said the Kurds had taken “full control” of the town.
The Observatory said at least 40 members of the terrorist group were killed as they tried to run into another town in the area.
The town’s loss will probably cut off an important ISIS supply route.
The strategic advance comes a day after the Kurdish YPG, or People’s Protection Units, captured the Syrian side of a Turkish border crossing at Akcakale.
ISIS — or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, a terrorist group whose members are predominately Sunni — is trying to establish a caliphate in the Middle East. It has become known for beheading captives and posting videos of the killings online.
Kurdish fighters have already taken about 50 towns and villages from ISIS, Miami Herald columnist Frida Ghitis, quoting the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, wrote Monday in an opinion piece for CNN.
