Islamic State militants launched an assault on a Kurdish-controlled town on Syria’s border with Turkey on Saturday, prompting air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition to try to drive them back.
The hardline Sunni fighters attacked Tel Abyad, which is controlled by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, and the nearby town of Suluk in the early hours of Saturday, YPG spokesman Redur Xelil and Turkish security sources told Reuters.
Coalition war planes carried out 10 air strikes to try to repel the assault, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. It said at least 45 Islamic State militants and 20 Kurdish militia fighters had been killed.
The attack was launched hours after a “cessation of hostilities” came into effect under a U.S.-Russian plan, although the temporary truce does not apply to Islamic State and al Qaeda affiliate the Nusra Front, meaning the Syrian government, Moscow and the coalition reserve the right to strike them. The truce appeared largely to be holding across much of Syria.
