QAMISHLO, Syria - Friday’s municipal elections were postponed in Tal Tamir because of fighting between Islamic State (ISIS) militants and Kurdish forces that control Syria’s Kurdish regions, an election official said.
No new date has been set for Tal Tamir to elect candidates for municipal posts, said Ezadin Farhan, co-leader of the Independent High Electoral Commission.
The cantons of Afrin, Cizire and Kobane in Syria’s Kurdish regions, or Rojava, are electing representatives in municipal polls on Friday.
ISIS fighters showered mortars on Tal Tamir Thursday, as they tried to fight off an offensive on a village south of the predominantly Syrian-Kurdish town by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The YPG launched a military operation two weeks ago to push ISIS out of the town of Tal Hamis, which is near Tal Tamir, in the canton of Cizire.
The US military confirmed a YPG claim that the militants had been pushed out of Tal Hamis earlier this week, saying control of that town denies ISIS the ability to move personnel and materials freely between Syria and Iraq
ISIS, which controls roughly a third of Iraq and as much of Syria, is also been fighting off offensives by Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraq and defending against a joint assault on the city of Tikrit by the Iraqi Army and Iranian-backed militiamen.
