Kurdish, Christian forces gain on IS in NE Syria battles
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BEIRUT - Kurdish fighters and Christian militiamen are making gains against the Islamic State group in northeastern Syria, with intense clashes amid airstrikes by the US-led coalition, an activist group and a Kurdish official said Saturday.
Nasser Haj Mansour, a defense official in Syria's Kurdish region, said the fighters captured the Christian village of Tal Maghas in Hassakeh province, which had been under the control of Islamic State militants. Haj Mansour and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the village was taken overnight.
They said airstrikes by the US-led coalition, the first in the area in days, were targeting Islamic State positions near Tal Tamr village, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) west of Tal Maghas. The Observatory and Haj Mansour reported intense clashes near Tal Tamr on Saturday.
