Kurdish Fighters Gain Control of Syria-Iraq Border Town

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—The spokesman for the Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG) said Saturday morning that they have driven out Islamist rebels and are now in control of Tel Kocer (Yarubiyah) on the Syria-Iraq Border.

YPG spokesman Redur Xelil told Rudaw that after some fierce fighting with the rebels of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Jabhat al-Nusrah, their forces are now running the border town.

Tel Kocer is located east of Qamishli—the largest Kurdish city in Syria—and is home to a mix of Kurdish-Arab population.

According to Xelil, YPG fighters have been engaged in separate battles with the al-Nusrah group and the ISIL in the past few days in Tel Kocer.

The YPG is the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the dominant Kurdish party in Syria.