PYD makes gains in northeastern Syrian city

By Mohamed Misto

HASAKAH, Syria

PYD, the Syrian affiliate of the terrorist PKK organization, has made gains against Bashar al-Assad regime forces in northeastern Syria, according to local sources on the ground.

The sources, who asked to be unnamed due to security concerns, told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that the PYD has taken control of three districts in Hasakah city.

“PYD fighters have captured the southern Gwiran district, al-Nashwa al-Sharqiyyah and Masakin al-Mahattah districts in western Hasakah,” they said.

The terrorist group was also reported to have seized several government buildings, including the central prison and postal office.

The same sources said the PYD fighters have also besieged the regime soldiers inside their security headquarters and “began to shell them”.

The regime forces still control the road linking their areas to the Qamishli airport, which is the only supply route for them.

According to the sources, PYD members are controlling ninety percent of the city.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, put the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.