Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have succeeded in wresting control of dozens more villages around Syria’s border town of Kobani from the ISIL Takfiri terrorists, says a UK-based group.

According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) have so far recaptured 156 villages around Kobani following clashes with the ISIL militants.

The opposition source added that the YPG forces now control territory ranging from 25 to 40 kilometers from Kobani to the east, west and south.

The ISIL withdrew from villages east and south of Kobani mostly without resistance, but fought hard to keep control of villages to the west, said Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the UK-based monitoring group, adding that the Kurds had recaptured 128 villages out of some 350 over two weeks.

Kurdish fighters seized the town on the border with Turkey on January 26 and battles have since continued for the recapture of nearby villages.

Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis since March 2011. The violence fuelled by Takfiri groups has so far claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, according to reports. New figures show that over 76,000 people, including thousands of children, lost their lives in Syria last year.

Over 7.2 million Syrians have also become internally displaced due to the ongoing crisis, according to the United Nations.

EA