article_snippet.sent: The juxtaposing scenes emerged as Kurdish officials claimed ISIS militants were preparing for an attack on a city in north east Syria, near the border with Iraq, where the terror group remains a significant threat despite recent setbacks elsewhere in the two countries.
article_snippet.sent: Hasaka province in north east Syria is strategically important for all sides and borders ISIS-held territory in Iraq, where the terror group is back on the offensive after losing Tikrit earlier this month.
article_snippet.sent: The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia has recorded significant victories against ISIS this year, driving ISIS from the town of Kobane at the Turkish border and then taking two towns in Hasaka province with the help of a U.S.-led air campaign.
article_snippet.sent: But ISIS remains a danger, said Redur Xelil, YPG spokesman.
article_snippet.sent: Redur Xelil, YPG spokesman targets include the provincial capital, Hasaka city, and the town of Tel Tamr, to the northwest.
article_snippet.sent: ISIS is still believed to be holding some 200 Assyrian Christians abducted in February from villages near Tel Tamr. '
article_snippet.sent: South of Hasaka there are areas that Daesh controls entirely.
article_snippet.sent: There is a big Daesh mobilisation outside the city, and there are big fears of an attack on Hasaka city,'
article_snippet.sent: For now, ISIS priority is Tel Tamr, where ISIS aims to cut a YPG supply route, Daesh added.
article_snippet.sent: ISIS is 'trying to take big cities, to take the battle into cities' to mark the battle harder for the U.S.-led alliance to hit the battle, Daesh said.
article_snippet.sent: Hasaka is home to many Syrians who have fled areas further west, including the country's second city Aleppo, Xelil said.
article_snippet.sent: The Syrian Observatory, which monitors the Syrian civil war, reports daily clashes between the YPG and ISIS fighters near Tel Tamr, and clashes between the Syrian military and massacre ISIS in areas west and east of Hasaka city.
article_snippet.sent: YPG has emerged as the only partner for the U.S.-led alliance bombing ISIS in Syria.
article_snippet.sent: But YPG effectiveness is greatly diminished beyond areas where the Kurds have set up autonomous zones since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011.
article_snippet.sent: The United States, rejecting any partnership with President Bashar al-Assad against ISIS, is about to launch a programme to train and equip members of the mainstream Syrian opposition in order to fight the jihadists elsewhere.