BEIRUT – Kurdish forces backed by Free Syrian Army-affiliated fighters have surrounded the strategic ISIS stronghold of Sarrin, which lies in a key position north of the militant group’s de-facto Raqqa capital.
“Intense clashes between Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters supported by [FSA] rebel troops on one hand and ISIS militants on the other have been ongoing for the past 48 hours in the villages surrounding Sarrin,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported late Tuesday.
The Observatory cited “trusted sources” as saying that at least 10 ISIS members have been killed in the fighting.
“YPG fighters have seized control over three villages outside Sarrin and completely surrounded the grain silos outside the town.”
Kurdish media outlets, meanwhile, touted the success of their troops and said that YPG forces backed by FSA troops had seized the silos outside of Sarrin.
The commander of the FSA’s Northern Sun Brigade told Kurdish Bas News that the joint forces were “at the gates of Sarrin, with only kilometer separating them and the town.”
“ISIS has planted mines and booby-trapped the areas it has fled from,” he said, but added that his troops were continuing to advance.
The US-led coalition has thrown its weight behind the campaign, conducting a number of deadly airstrikes against ISIS positions around Sarrin, according to the Observatory.
Despite the progress of the Kurdish-FSA troops, the ISIS supply line linking the northeastern outskirts of Aleppo to Sarin via the Tishreen Dam along the Euphrates remains open, the monitoring group added.
The international coalition has not conducted airstrikes on the ISIS-controlled dam to sever their logistical lines due to the humanitarian disaster the facility’s destruction would cause.
Nevertheless, sources told the pro-opposition Syria Solution outlet that ISIS is unable to dispatch military convoys to stop the Kurdish-FSA advances due to coalition airstrikes elsewhere.
ISIS bans civilians from fleeing
Amid the impending Kurdish-FSA offensive into Sarrin, ISIS militants in the town have banned residents from fleeing and burned cigarettes.
“ISIS has detained a large number of Sarrin residents and prevented them from leaving the town,” pro-opposition Qasion News reported Tuesday.
Bas News, in turn, said that ISIS militants have set up checkpoints along the only exit from the town not besieged by the joint YPG-FSA forces.
“ISIS has set up a number of checkpoints along the southern exit of Sarrin after Kurdish forces surrounded the northern and eastern fronts of the town, while the Euphrates River lies to the west.”
A civilian who managed to escape the town by boat across the Euphrates River told the Kurdish news outlet that ISIS intends to use civilians as human shields.
ISIS has also maintained its draconian social policies in Sarrin, with its fighters burning cigarettes even as Kurdish-FSA forces continue to advance on the town.
“ISIS has burned a quantity of tobacco and cigarettes in the Sarrin area,” the Observatory reported Wednesday.
Strategic importance
Control of Sarrin has been one of the top objectives of the YPG and FSA-affiliated forces rolling back ISIS in the Kobane province.
The Kurds and their Arab allies in the region established the joint Euphrates Volcano operation room in September 2014 with the aim of uniting all anti-ISIS groups to liberate Kobane and Raqqa to the south from ISIS.
YPG forces fighting ISIS in northern Syria have relied on Arab and Assyrian allies when storming towns that are not populated by Kurds.
Sarrin, which was first seized by ISIS in September 2013, is mostly inhabited by ethnic Arabs and has a population just over 6,000 people.
The town occupies an important strategic position to the east of the Euphrates River and is the last major town between Kobane and Raqqa, which lies approximately 95 kilometers southeast beyond a stretch of semi-desert.
The joint YPG-FSA forces began their operation to seize Sarrin in mid-March, but their initial offensive was held back by ISIS counterattacks in the area.
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