Tell Abyad

Four journalists have been released shortly after being detained in southeastern Turkey over a question that irritated ?anl?urfa Governor ?zzettin Küçük, daily Evrensel has reported.

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.

Energy Minister Taner Y?ld?z has denied media reports that Turkey provided electricity to the Syrian town of Tal Abyad when it was under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

At least 6,000 Syrian refugee children, who recently entered Turkey following a U.S.-led air offensive in northeast Syria, have been vaccinated by Turkish health officials against measles and polio.

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. 

Kurdish fighters advanced June 13 to the outskirts of a key Syrian border town held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as Turkish forces sought to prevent thousands fleeing the fighting from crossing the frontier.

Further west, an Islamist rebel alliance pushed ISIL extremists back from a strategic cross-border supply route.    

Turkish security forces on June 13 used water cannon and fired warning shots to push Syrians away from the frontier as thousands massed at a border crossing to escape escalating fighting, an AFP photographer said.