Kurdish fighters capture northern Syrian town from Islamic StateJuly 27, 2015 - 20:47 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The Kurdish YPG militia on Monday, July 27, captured a town from Islamic State fighters in northern Syria after a month-long offensive against the ultra hardline militants in the area to cut their supply lines, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, according to Reuters. The Observatory said Sarrin, near the Euphrates River, was a launchpad for Islamic State to wage raids on the Kurdish-held town of Kobani further north at the border with Turkey. U.S.-led air strikes assisted the Kurds in the assault, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Observatory. The YPG, backed by small Syrian rebel groups, has made significant gains against Islamic State in Raqqa province, seizing Tel Abyad at the Turkish border on June 15 before advancing south and capturing the town of Ain Issa, 50 km (30 miles) north of the militants' Syria stronghold of Raqqa city. In July the U.S.-led coalition has conducted some of the most sustained raids in northern Syria against the militants since the campaign began nearly a year ago. The raids were aimed at curbing the militants' ability to operate out of Raqqa and prevent them from fighting back against Kurdish advances, according to U.S. officials. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |