Syrian Kurds and rebels captured strategic town from IS

Beirut 

Syrian Kurds and allied rebels captured another strategic town on Tuesday, after seizing a base from the jihadists near the Raqa bastion as a part of their efforts to advance against the Islamic State group.

A spokesman for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and a Britain-based monitor said anti-IS forces took Ain Issa after capturing the nearby Brigade 93 base overnight.

"Ain Issa has come under our full control, along with dozens of villages in the surrounding area," YPG spokesman Redur Khalil said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said IS had withdrawn from the town and YPG and rebel forces were now sweeping it to clear mines laid by the jihadists.

Ain Issa's fall comes after IS ceded control of the Brigade 93 base on Monday night and the border town of Tal Abyad more than a week ago.

Ain Issa and Brigade 93 are around 55 kilometres (35 miles) north of Raqa, the de facto capital of IS's self-declared Islamic "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq.

They both lie on a main highway between Kurdish-held territory in Aleppo province to the west and Hasakeh province to the east.

The same route links territory held by IS in Aleppo and Hasakeh provinces.

"It's also a defence line for Raqa," said Mutlu Civiroglu, a Kurdish affairs analyst.

"Considering that Raqa is a sort of capital of the 'caliphate', it creates a lot of pressure on IS."

 - IS 'pushed back' -

     The YPG-rebel advance has been backed by air power from the US-led coalition fighting IS, with the Observatory saying at least 26 jihadists were killed in international strikes in and around Ain Issa on Monday.

    The monitor said on Tuesday that at least 2,896 people -- mostly IS jihadists -- had been killed in coalition strikes in Syria since the air campaign began on September 23, 2014.The toll included 2,628 IS members, mostly foreign fighters, as well as 105 fighters from IS's rival jihadist group the Al-Nusra Front, and one Islamist fighter.

     According to the Observatory, coalition strikes have also killed 162 civilians, 52 of them children, in Syria. The Pentagon has acknowledged just two civilian deaths in Syria in the international campaign against IS.

Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said IS's defence lines had been "pushed back to the outskirts of Raqa city".

The capture of Tal Abyad on June 16 cut off a key conduit for IS, which had used the border town to bring in fighters and weapons from Turkey and export black market oil.

Kurdish forces have been chipping away at IS territory in the northern Raqa province for months, after successfully repelling a fierce jihadist attack on the border town of Kobane in January.

The YPG has emerged as "arguably the most effective fighting force against IS in Syria", analyst Sirwan Kajjo said after Tal Abyad's capture.

"They are well-organised, disciplined and are big believers in their cause."