Kurds in Syria flee ISIS, are attacked

Abduction of civilians triggers exodus

BEIRUT -- Hundreds of Kurds fleeing Islamic State-held villages in northern Syria amid a wave of mass abductions have come under fire, with several killed or wounded, opposition activists and a Kurdish official said Saturday.

In eastern Syria, meanwhile, airstrikes on a village controlled by the extremist group have killed at least 30 people and wounded many others, opposition activists said.

Activist Omar Abu Leila, who is from the eastern city of Deir el-Zour but currently lives in Europe, said Saturday's airstrikes targeted a mosque in the village of Qourieh, killing at least 30 people. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 46 people were killed in Qourieh, including children. It said 31 of the dead were civilians and the rest have not been identified yet.

Abu Leila said the airstrikes were carried out by Russian warplanes. Russia denied targeting civilians.

Qourieh is in the province of Deir el-Zour, which borders Iraq. Most of the province is ruled by the extremist group.

In the northern province of Aleppo, the hundreds of Kurds fled as the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed and predominantly Kurdish militia, clashed with the Islamic State inside Manbij, a key stronghold of the extremist group. The Democratic Forces have pushed into the town from the southern edge, capturing grain silos and flour mills, according to the Observatory.

One family who fled was struck by a mine on Friday that killed two family members and wounded the other three, said Sherfan Darwish, a Democratic Forces spokesman. He said Islamic State sniper fire killed a 10-year-old girl Friday.

"Civilians are defying death in order to leave areas controlled by Daesh," Darwish said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.

The exodus began after the Islamic State abducted about 900 Kurdish civilians in the Aleppo province over the past three weeks and forced them to build fortifications for the extremists in retaliation for the Kurdish-led assault, which is also targeting the Islamic State stronghold of al-Bab. Others were trying to flee Manbij, which is surrounded by Democratic Forces fighters.

Some of the abducted Kurds have been press-ganged into digging trenches and shelters for the Islamic State, according to the Observatory's chief, Rami Abdurrahman. Darwish said others are being used as human shields.

Abdurrahman said about 120 more Kurds have been abducted since Friday. The extremists have warned residents who leave that they will not be allowed to return to their homes and "will be punished if they try to return," he said.

He said many of those fleeing are heading to areas that were recently captured by the Democratic Forces south of the Islamic State-held town of Marea. Abdurrahman said Islamic State fighters opened fire on those fleeing, killing several of them, including children.

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist-run monitoring group, said Islamic State fighters opened fire at people trying to flee from Manbij, killing 10 of them, including children.

The Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the Democratic Forces, called on the international community and aid groups to supply those fleeing with whatever they need, saying many of them are in open areas.

The Council called on the world to help the Democratic Forces "prevent the occurrence of a catastrophe or a massacre," saying there were "indications" one might happen. The Democratic Forces also include Arab and Christian forces.

Manbij lies along the only Islamic State supply line between the Syrian-Turkish border to the north and the extremist group's self-styled capital, Raqqa, which lies to the southeast.

If Manbij is captured, it would be the biggest strategic defeat for the Islamic State in Syria since July 2015, when the extremist group lost the border town of Tal Abyad.

The U.S. embedded 300 special forces with the Democratic Forces. The White House said they are advisers. French special forces are also embedded with the group.

In neighboring Turkey, Syrian opposition cameraman Khalid AlEissa died late Friday in a hospital where he was undergoing treatment after being wounded in an explosion earlier this month in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, according to several activist groups, including the Observatory.

A Section on 06/26/2016

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