BEIRUT: The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said Monday it had encircled the ISIS-controlled town of Tal Abyad, the nearest border town to the militant's de facto capital of Raqqa city.
YPG spokesman Redur Xelil said the militia had surrounded the town along the Turkish border, pushing ahead with an offensive with the help of U.S.-led airstrikes to seize strategic territory held by the jihadists, including their main Tal Abyad-Raqqa supply route.
"Tal Abyad is almost besieged now after the control of the Raqqa-Tal Abyad road," he said.
The Kurdish units were sending reinforcements to the area south of Tal Abyad from both its stronghold in Hassakeh province in the northeastern border area and from Kobani, northwest of Tal Abyad.