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Kurds recaptures two towns in Aleppo
[ARA News] ALEPPO – Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) attacked strongholds of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front in Aleppo province, northern Syria, and reported new gains, military sources said on Monday.

The YPG, supported by moderate rebels of the al-Thuwar Army, bombed with mortar fire and heavy artillery the towns of Meranaz and Der Jamal in the northern countryside of Aleppo, targeting strongholds of Islamist rebels of the Nusra Front and allied Ahrar al-Sham Movement.

“Under the blows of the Kurdish forces, the Islamists evacuated their headquarters in the two towns,” YPG member Wael Ahmed told ARA News in Aleppo.

“Subsequent to the YPG-led operation, clashes broke out in the vicinity Meranaz and Der Jamal. At least 12 Islamist fighters from Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham were killed and several others were wounded,” the source said, adding that the Islamists were eventually forced to withdraw from both towns on Monday midnight.

This comes as sporadic clashes continue between the YPG fighters and al-Qaeda-affiliated militants in the Sherawa district near Afrin in northwestern Aleppo, where Kurds regained control of several villages last week.
According to Rudaw, it's three villages, and a bit more complicated:
The Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) have made advances at the expense of Syrian opposition groups in the country's north amidst continued Russian aerial bombardments being carried out in support of a major Syrian offensive aimed at routing out the rebels from that important part of the country.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, fighters opposed to the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Terror of Aleppo ...
 abandoned the villages of Aqlamiyah, Deir Jamal and Mareanar on Sunday due to their fears of being bombed. The YPG capitalized on the vacuum and advanced to seize those three villages. This comes mere days after they took another three towns from these groups.

Residents in the towns reportedly called upon the fighters to leave and let the YPG take over since that would lessen the chance of the Russians bombing them.

The YPG has clashed with Syrian military forces in the past but has not been part of the uprising against the Syrian regime and has been mainly focused on fighting Islamists in recent years.

Russia claims to support Syria's Kurds.

The Russians are supporting a Syrian effort to close off the borders of both The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
 in the north and Jordan in the south, where Russian warplanes are supporting a Syrian offensive against a U.S.-backed opposition group. The Kurds also want to close off Syria's northwestern border with Turkey which has long been a conduit to various anti-Assad groups, many of whom are Islamist and have killed Kurds.
Posted by: badanov 2016-02-09
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=444747