ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Fierce fighting resumed between the Syrian regime and the Islamic State (ISIS) group in the Arab neighborhoods of the predominately Kurdish city of Hasaka in Syria, a Syrian intelligence source told Rudaw on Thursday. "Late Wednesday night, ISIS shock troops attacked the eastern neighborhoods of Hasaka that were held by the Syrian army," said the well-placed security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media. "After an hour-long intense battle in the eastern neighborhoods of Neqil, Resafe and Micbel, ISIS troops managed to capture the areas, driving out the Syrian army," the source said. He added that the defeated troops had fled to the Kurdish neighborhoods, where they were calling on young people to take up arms for a counteroffensive to liberate captured areas from ISIS. Scores of dead Syrian army soldiers were being dragged in the streets by the militants, the source said. Meanwhile, the Syrian army has been calling on able-bodied residents in the southern neighborhoods of Western Khweran, Eastern Khweran and Leike to join forces with the military to protect their regions from ISIS, according to information obtained by Rudaw. Ivan Hasib, a Rudaw reporter inside Hasaka, said earlier this week that no gains had been made by ISIS in the Kurdish areas of the city. He added there was intense fighting in Hasaka, with ISIS fighters attacking Kurdish neighborhoods near the Khabour River. "After many attempts, the Islamic State did not manage to advance into Kurdish neighborhoods; ISIS fighters are in the northeast of Hasaka,” the source said on Thursday. Hasib said that the Kurdish YPG, or People's Protection Units, have fought off the ISIS assaults, while Syrian air strikes have destroyed an ISIS fuel depot.
