Tell Abyad offensive

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters appear to be shoring up their defences around their Syrian stronghold Raqqa city after losing ground to Kurdish-led forces this week, a spokesman for the Kurdish YPG militia said on June 24.

As Syrians who fled the clashes between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Kurdish forces have started returning to Tal Abyad after the jihadists' defeat, Kurdish militia have discovered a torture center and prison cells in the Syrian town. 

Daily Hürriyet published photos from an abandoned prison that was used by the ISIL until the YPG takeover of Tal Abyad

The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is fighting against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), is working on a "secret plan" to rid the Syrian-Turkish border of Turkmens, said Ershad Salihi, a leading figure of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) during an interview with Hürriyet. 

Syrian refugees in Turkey have begun returning to their homes in Tal Abyad after Kurdish forces seized the border town in a major blow to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

More than 23,000 refugees fleeing fighting in northern Syria have crossed into Turkey, the United Nations refugee agency said on June 16, quoting Turkish authorities.

Kurdish forces have seized control of a key border town from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), cutting a major supply line in the biggest setback yet for the jihadists in Syria, as the Turkish government clearly voiced its unease over the perceived efforts to unify Kurdish cantons in its southern neighbor. 

Kurdish militia, backed by Syrian rebel forces, seized full control of a key border town from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group jihadists early on June 16, a monitoring group said. 

"Since dawn this morning, not a single bullet has been fired in Tal Abyad," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.    

Thousands of people have poured over Syria's border to Turkey, fleeing a battle between Kurdish forces and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) near the border town of Tal Abyad, prompting close attention from Turkey's cabinet.

Turkey has received a new wave of refugees from Syria amid intensified clashes across the border, as tension rose at the Akçakale border gate in the southeastern province of ?anl?urfa due to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants reportedly blocking the newcomers.