Euphrates Volcano[19] Military of ISIL 9 civilians killed[6][7][28]23,000+ civilians displaced[11][29][30] Foreign intervention in behalf of Syrian rebels U.S.-led intervention against ISIL 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 The Tell Abyad offensive or Martyr Rubar Qamışlo operation was a military operation that began in late May 2015 in the northern Raqqa Governorate, during the Syrian Civil War.

It was conducted by the Kurdish-majority People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Free Syrian Army (FSA)[1] against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The focus of the campaign was to capture the key border town of Tell Abyad, and to link the Kobanî and Jazira Cantons in Northern Syria.

On 7 June, the YPG, backed by the FSA, launched an attack to the east of Suluk, and captured a number of villages to the southwest of Ras al-Ayn, west of the eastern provincial boundary of the Raqqa Governorate.

[37] On 10 June, YPG and allied forces captured a hill[38] and five villages east of Suluk, while a number of displaced people from the town reached Raqqa city.

[32] YPG and allied forces advanced to the southeast and southwest of Tell Abyad, capturing a number of villages, while ISIL blew up two bridges.

[citation needed] It was reported that around 600 ISIL militants were trapped in Tell Abyad by the advancing YPG and FSA forces, whom were threatening to desert their positions if they did not receive more reinforcements.

[48] Later that day, Kurdish and rebel forces seized the Tell Abyad border crossing[49] and the eastern and southern part of the town.

[citation needed] Some time later, allied forces captured most of Tell Abyad, while a few pockets of ISIL resistance remained inside the town.

[53] At the same time, the YPG was reported to be bringing reinforcements from the Al-Hasakah Governorate, to prevent ISIL from reopening the supply routes to Tell Abyad.

It was also reported that the ISIL fighters who had escaped into Turkey, from the villages to the west of Tell Abyad, were seeking transportation westward to re-enter Syria in the northern Aleppo Governorate.

[58] On 22 June, Kurdish-led forces captured the Brigade 93 military base from ISIL, just southwest of Ayn Issa, and pushed within seven kilometers of the town itself.

On the same day, it was reported that civilians in the town of Ayn Issa were evacuating, in anticipation of the impending clash between the YPG & FSA and ISIL forces.

[citation needed] On 23 June, the YPG and FSA captured Ayn Issa except for the grain silos, after ISIL fighters retreated from the town.

[60][61] At the end of the day, Kurdish forces and FSA fighters were in complete control of Ayn Issa and the surrounding region, bringing them within 50 km (30 miles) of Raqqa city.

They also captured the village of Khirbat Hadla, to the southwest of Ayn Issa,[citation needed] bringing them within 35 kilometres (21.75 mi) of Raqqa.

[11] On 25 June, ISIL militants launched an attack on the city of Kobanî, in retaliation for the recent Kurdish advances in the Al-Hasakah and Tell Abyad regions.

[65] The next day, the YPG fully regained control of Tell Abyad, killing three ISIL militants, while another had blown himself up with an explosive belt.

[11] On 3 July, ISIL infiltrators attacked the village of Qinetra, near Tell Abyad along the Syrian-Turkish border, with a vehicle bomb and 4 suicide bombers.

[11] On 6 July, ISIL recaptured Ayn Issa, following a massive counterattack that left dozens of YPG fighters dead or wounded,[67] including an attack at Sharakrak.

The attack killed 20 YPG militants at the cost of more than 45 ISIL fighters, according to SOHR, before being repelled by the Kurdish forces, with air support from the US-led coalition.