6,000 flee as IS mounts attacks in northern Syria

Damascus, May 29 

More than 6,000 people have fled areas in northern Syria as a result of the attacks by the Islamic State (IS), a monitor group reported on Sunday.

The mass exodus was witnessed in the towns of Sheikh Issa, Mare’ and other towns in the northern province of Aleppo as a result of the IS attacks on these areas that are under the control of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Xinhua news agency reported.

The IS has recently unleashed a wide-scale offensive on the SDF-controlled areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo, in retaliation to the SDF attacks on the terror group’s positions in the northern countryside of the province of al-Raqqa, the de facto capital of the IS.

The SDF managed to repel the IS attacks on Mare’, which is considered as the “capital of revolution” by the Syrian rebels, as the town was the first to witness armed insurgency that spread to the city of Aleppo in the early years of Syria’s five-year-old conflict.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the people fled to other areas under the SDF control, adding that tough humanitarian situation is prevailing in such towns as a result of the military showdown there.

The SDF, which has recently been formed from Kurdish and Arab fighters, unleashed an offensive to control areas in northern al-Raqqa under heavy US air cover. —IANS

Battle for Iraq’s Mosul

Arbil: Iraq’s Kurdish peshmerga forces on Sunday launched an offensive aimed at retaking areas east of Mosul, the IS’ main hub in the country, a statement said. The “peshmerga-led ground offensive, backed by international coalition warplanes” started before dawn, the Kurdistan Region Security Council said. It said the operation involved around 5,500 peshmerga and was aimed at retaking villages from the IS near Khazir. AFP

‘$100 for shaving beard’

Washington: With its territories reduced, cash-strapped IS has imposed new taxes and fines like a $100 penalty for shaving a beard and women being charged $25 for wearing cloaks deemed too tight, according to an analysis released by IHS Inc based on its monitoring of local news reports. PTI