Syria army, Kurds push ISIL out of Hasakeh city: Monitor

BEIRUT - Agence France-Presse

Kurdish fighters are pictured during a clashes with fighters from ISIL on the outskirts of Syrian city of Hasekeh on June 30, 2015. AFP Photo

Syrian troops and Kurdish fighters ousted the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the northeastern city of Hasakeh on July 28 after more than a month of fighting, a monitoring group said.

Government troops and Kurdish forces, who share control of the city, had been battling since June 25 to push the jihadist group out of the city, which is the capital of Hasakeh province.
 
ISIL "was expelled by the army from Zuhur, the last district in which it was present in Hasakeh, and its fighters have been pushed to the southern outskirts of the city," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.
 
He said at least 287 ISIL fighters, among them 26 minors, had been killed in the fight for Hasakeh, as well as strikes by the US-led coalition outside of the city.
 
Another 120 regime soldiers and pro-regime militiamen and several dozen Kurdish forces were also killed in the fighting.
 
ISIL has attacked Hasakeh city several times, but the June 25 assault was the group's most serious yet.
 
Its forces initially seized several districts in the southern part of the city, with Kurdish fighters and regime troops mobilising against them.
 
The Observatory said ISIL had used at least 21 car bombs and several suicide bombers during the month-long fight.