The Kurdish military claims that the Islamic State fighters have seized 16 Kurdish villages in Northern Syria. The villages were captured in a large ISIS offensive towards the city of Ayn al-Arab at the Syrian border with Turkey.

YPG Kurdish armed group commander Ocalan Iso said that the Islamic State militants were using heavy armory and tanks in their attack near a city known as Kobani.

The Syrian Observatory for Human rights said that the villages were seized by the Islamic State in an advance started on Wednesday.