Kurdish-led SDF gain back control over most of Ras al-Ain border city

Kurdish-led SDF gain back control over most of Ras al-Ain border city
October 13, 2019, 9:08 am

Fighters from the SDF sit atop an armoured personnel carrier. (File photo AFP)

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) gain back control over most of the border city of Ras al-Ain, in a counterattack which killed 17 from Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.

A senior Turkish security official had said on Saturday that the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition seized control of the city.

“The national army took control of the town center this morning. Inspections are being conducted in residential areas,” the official said.

Syrian Kurdish-led forced denied on Saturday that Turkey had seized Ras al-Ain.

The Turkish military and allied Syrian opposition forces have been advancing in villages around Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain, under the cover of Turkish artillery and some airstrikes.

Turkey is fighting the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which it considers a threat for its links to a decades-long Kurdish insurgency within its own borders.

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