Kurdish forces kill 132 ISIL militants in Syria’s Hasakah

Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) have killed at least 132 ISIL Takfiri terrorists in Syria’s northeastern province of Hasakah over in a recent offensive.

During the offensive, which began on Saturday backed by the US-led coalition airstrikes, Kurdish forces also liberated 70 villages from the ISIL terrorists, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated on Wednesday.

The development comes as Kurdish news sources reported that Peshmerga and YPG forces in the northeastern region of Rojava were closing in on the city of Gire Spi (Tel Abyad), nearly 70 kilometers east of the town of Kobani.

Muslih Zebari, the commander of the Peshmerga forces in Kobani, reportedly said all villages and areas between Kobani and Gire Spi have been retaken by the Peshmerga and YPG forces, bringing them within three kilometers of the city.

The northeastern corner of Syria is considered strategically important in the fight against the Takfiri terror group since it borders territory controlled by the group in Iraq.

Kurdish forces have been fiercely battling ISIL terrorists in Syria and neighboring Iraq in recent months.

In January, the fighters succeeded in seizing the strategic town of Kobani on the border with Turkey and battles have since continued for the recapture of nearby villages.

The loss of the border town is viewed as a major blow to ISIL terrorists, who started advancing on Kobani on September 2014, in order to strengthen control over a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.

Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis since March 2011. The violence fueled by Takfiri groups has so far claimed the lives of over 210,000 people