BEIRUT - Turkey-backed Syrian rebels said on Saturday they had cut a road connecting Syrian towns along a section of the border where the Turkish army is waging an offensive targeting Kurdish-led forces.
Officials with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) could not immediately be reached for comment.
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console.log("catid body is "+catID);if(catID==120){document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none";var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://player.anyclip.com/anyclip-widget/lre-widget/prod/v1/src/lre.js'; script.setAttribute('pubname','jpostcom'); script.setAttribute('widgetname','0011r00001lcD1i_12258'); document.getElementsByClassName('divAnyClip')[0].appendChild(script);}else if(catID!=69 && catID!=2){ document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none"; var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://static.vidazoo.com/basev/vwpt.js'; script.setAttribute('data-widget-id','60fd6becf6393400049e6535'); document.getElementsByClassName('divVidazoo')[0].appendChild(script); }Youssef Hammoud, spokesman for the Turkey-backed National Army, said fighters had cut the 712 road that links Tel Abyad and Ras al Ain - the focal points of the Turkish offensive that began on Wednesday.
The road hugs the border in some places and in others extends a number of kilometers (miles) into Syria.
"This advance was on a new and surprise front ... between Tel Abyad and Ras al Ain. On this front, they were able to cut the roads linking together Suluk, Tel Abyad, Ras al-Ain with the villages in the area," he said in a statement to Reuters.
He said 18 villages had been captured in the advance.