Campaign for Tel Hamis

Campaign for Tel Hamis

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Kurdish and Assyrian militia have pressed an offensive against Islamic State in northeast Syria, cutting one of its supply lines from Iraq, as fears mounted for dozens of Christians abducted by the hardline group.

Reuters photographer Rodi Said has been documenting fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units and the Christian Syriac Security Office as they took part in the campaign near the city of Hasaka.

. HASAKA, Syria. REUTERS/Rodi Said
A member of the Kurdish Security Forces (Asayish) helps an injured civilian to evacuate Tel Tamr.

The Assyrian Christians were taken from villages near the town of Tel Tamr, some 12 miles to the northwest of the city of Hasaka. There has been no word on their fate. There have been conflicting reports on where the Christians had been taken.

"These were peaceful villages that had nothing to do with the battles," said Nasir Haj Mahmoud, a Kurdish official in the YPG militia in northeastern Syria, speaking by telephone from the city of Qamishli.

. HASAKA, Syria. REUTERS/Rodi Said
A fighter of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) fires an anti-aircraft weapon from Tel Tawil village in the direction of Islamic State fighters positioned in the countryside.

The abductions in Syria follow advances by Kurdish forces against Islamic State in parts of the northeast near the Iraqi border, an area of vital importance to the group as one of the bridges between land it controls in Iraq and Syria.

"They want to show themselves strong, playing on the religion string, at a time when they are being hit hard," said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, speaking by telephone.

. HASAKA, Syria. REUTERS/Rodi Said
Christian fighters of Sutoro (The Syriac Security Office) carry their weapons as they man a checkpoint in the town of Tel Tamr.

The new offensive was focused on dislodging Islamic State from areas some 60 miles further to the east, including Tel Hamis, a town that is one of its strongholds.

The offensive underlines the emergence of the well-organised Syrian Kurdish militia as the main partner for the U.S.-led alliance against Islamic State in Syria.

. HASAKA, Syria. REUTERS/Rodi Said
Civilians sit on a pick-up truck with their belongings as they flee the town of Tel Tamr.