View source for Battle of Tell Abyad (2013)

{{Short description|Military confrontation}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{For|the later battles|Tell Abyad offensive|Battle of Tell Abyad (2016)}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict    = Battle of Tell Abyad (2013)
| width       =
| partof      = the [[Rojava–Islamist conflict]] and<br> the [[Rojava conflict]]<br> and [[Syrian civil war]]
| image       = Syrian civil war map.png
| caption     = Map of the [[Syrian civil war]] in November 2013
| date        = 19–30 July 2013<br>({{Age in years, months, weeks and days|month1=7|day1=19|year1=2013|month2=7|day2=30|year2=2013}})
| place       = [[Tell Abyad]], [[Tell Abyad District]], [[Raqqa Governorate]], [[Syria]]
| territory   =
| result      = ISIL/Nusra/Ahrar al-Sham victory
*Kurdish forces driven out of Tell Abyad<ref name=selected>{{cite web|url=http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/A-HRC-27-CRP1_en.pdf|title=Selected testimonies from victims of the Syrian conflict|work=Human Rights Council|date=16 September 2014}}</ref>
*Thousands of civilians displaced<ref name=selected/><ref name=center/>
| status      =
| combatant1  = {{flagicon|Syrian opposition}}{{flagicon image|Flag of Rojava.svg}} [[Kurdish Front]]
*Sheikh Ayoub Battalion<ref name=center/>
{{flagicon|Rojava}} [[Democratic Union Party (Syria)|Democratic Union Party]]
*{{flagicon image|People's Protection Units Flag (2011-2012) alternative.svg|border=no}} [[People's Protection Units]]
*{{flagicon image|YPJ Flag.svg|border=no}} [[Women's Protection Units]]
| combatant2  = {{flagicon image|AQMI Flag asymmetric.svg}} [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]]<br>
{{flagicon image|Flag of the Al-Nusra Front.svg}} [[Al-Nusra Front]]<br>
{{flagicon image|Flag of Ahrar ash-Sham.svg}} [[Ahrar al-Sham]]
*Al-Sakhana Brigades<ref name=center/>
| commander1  = {{flagicon|Syrian opposition}}{{flagicon image|Flag of Rojava.svg}} Haji Ahmed Kurdi<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/11082013|title=Kurdish Commander: Jihadi Groups in Syria Have Hijacked FSA|work=Rudaw|date=11 August 2013}}</ref> ({{small|Kurdish Front commander}})
| commander2  = {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Al-Nusra Front.svg}}{{flagicon|ISIL}} Khalaf Thiyab "Abu Musab"{{POW}}<ref name=monitor>{{cite web|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2013/07/syria-kurds-pyd-ypg-north-clashes-border-crossing.html|title=Syrian Kurdish Forces Surround Border Crossing|work=Al-Monitor|date=24 July 2013|access-date=31 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014205926/http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2013/07/syria-kurds-pyd-ypg-north-clashes-border-crossing.html|archive-date=14 October 2013|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> ({{small|al-Nusra Front commander}})
| units1      =
| units2      =
| strength1   =
| strength2   =
| casualties1 = Unknown
| casualties2 = 25–34 killed<ref name=center/><ref name=monitor/>
| casualties3 =
| notes       =
| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Rojava Revolution}}{{campaignbox Syrian Civil War}}
}}
The '''2013 battle of Tell Abyad''' was a military confrontation in the town of [[Tell Abyad]] between the [[Kurdish Front]] and the [[Democratic Union Party (Syria)|Democratic Union Party]]-affiliated [[People's Defense Units|People's Protection Units]] and [[Women's Protection Units]] against the [[Islamic State|Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]], the [[al-Nusra Front]] (both [[al-Qaeda]] affiliates), and [[Ahrar al-Sham]], resulting in a [[Kurds|Kurdish]] defeat and the [[Jihadism|jihadist]] capture of the town.
==Background==
{{seealso|Battle of Ras al-Ayn}}
Tell Abyad is located across the town of [[Akçakale]] on the [[Syria–Turkey border|Syria-Turkey border]]. On 19 September 2012 the [[Farouq Brigades]] captured Tell Abyad from Syrian government forces. In March 2013, the al-Nusra Front set up a checkpoint and captured 33 fighters from the Farouq Brigades. Clashes between the two groups resulted in the Farouq commander, Abu Azzam, being [[wounded in action]]. Abu Azzam previously survived an [[assassination]] attempt by [[car bomb]]. He and other wounded rebels was transferred to a [[hospital]] in [[Urfa|Şanlıurfa]], [[Turkey]]. The next week, the 33 Farouq prisoners were released and the border crossing reopened.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://world.time.com/2013/03/26/in-syria-the-rebels-have-begun-to-fight-among-themselves/|title=In Syria, the Rebels Have Begun to Fight Among Themselves|magazine=Time|date=26 March 2013}}</ref>
On 17 July 2013, the YPG fully captured the city of [[Ras al-Ayn]] from ISIL and al-Nusra. The latter retreated to the northern [[Raqqa Governorate]], mainly in Tell Abyad. ISIL and al-Nusra Front fighters arrested many [[Kurds in Syria|Syrian Kurds]] on charges of [[Kurdish nationalism]]. ISIL also called on the residents of Tell Abyad to pledge allegiance to their self-proclaimed [[caliphate]]. In response a YPG battalion was formed in the Kurdish neighbourhoods of the town.<ref name=center>{{cite web|url=http://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en/reports/talabyad|title=Report on the Recent Events Witnessed in Tal Abyad-Al Raqqa|work=Violation Documentation Centre in Syria|date=July 2013}}</ref>
==Battle==
On 20 July 2013, the Kurdish Front Brigade captured Khalaf Thiyab "Abu Musab", an al-Nusra commander and 4 other Nusra members on charges that they attempted to [[suicide bombing|blow up]] themselves in the "People's House", the [[Democratic Union Party (Syria)|Democratic Union Party]] office in Tell Abyad. Clashes then erupted in the town. By the next day, more than 1,000 residents were detained by Islamist groups in order to pressure the PYD to release the al-Nusra members, and both were released. Hundreds of residents fled the town. <ref name=center/>
On 22 July, ISIL raided, looted, and demolished dozens of houses of the hundreds of Kurdish civilians who fled after their neighbourhoods were attacked by [[tank]]s and other heavy weapons.<ref name=center/> More than 10 al-Nusra fighters were killed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kurdishinstitute.be/pyd-news-briefing-regarding-the-news-and-events-in-west-kurdistan/|title=PYD: News Briefing Regarding The News and Events in West Kurdistan|work=Kurdish Institute of Brussels|date=23 July 2013}}</ref> YPG and Kurdish Front forces surrounded the Akçakale border crossing which was then closed by Turkey.<ref name=monitor/> By the next week, ISIL defeated the Kurdish forces and took full control of Tell Abyad, forcing thousands of Kurdish civilians to flee.<ref name=selected/>
==Aftermath==
Many Kurdish refugees from Tell Abyad fled to nearby Tell Akhdar. 70% of its residents had already fled. In August 2013 [[Ahrar al-Sham]] took over the village. On 13 October, clashes renewed between joint Kurdish forces and ISIL west of Tell Abyad.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aranews.net/2013/10/kurds-jointly-fight-islamists-in-syria-s-tel-abyad/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501031125/http://aranews.net/2013/10/kurds-jointly-fight-islamists-in-syria-s-tel-abyad/|url-status=dead|archive-date=1 May 2015|title=Kurds united against Islamists in Syria's Tel Abyad|work=ARA News|date=14 October 2013}}</ref>
In January 2014, infighting erupted between Ahrar al-Sham and ISIL and the latter gained complete control over the Tell Abyad countryside. Clashes between the YPG and ISIL west of Tell Abyad again renewed in March. Hundreds of ISIL militants surrounded Tell Akhdar and threatened to kill all those who remained in the village. All residents fled and most became refugees in [[Kobanî]], which was also [[Siege of Kobanî|besieged]].<ref name=selected/>
In February 2015, [[Euphrates Volcano]] forces advanced into the northern Raqqa countryside from both the west and the east, capturing 19 villages.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31534057|title=Syrian Kurds and rebels 'advance into IS-held Raqqa province'|work=BBC|date=19 February 2015}}</ref> Tell Abyad was then [[Tell Abyad offensive|captured]] on 16 June 2015.
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Syrian Civil War}}
{{Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant}}
{{coord missing|Syria}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tell Abyad,Battle of,2013}}
[[Category:Battles of the Syrian civil war in 2013]]
[[Category:Military operations of the Syrian civil war involving the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]]
[[Category:Military operations of the Syrian civil war involving the al-Nusra Front]]
[[Category:Military operations of the Syrian civil war involving the People's Defense Units]]
[[Category:Raqqa Governorate in the Syrian civil war]]
[[Category:Ethnic cleansing by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]]
[[Category:Persecution of Kurds in Syria]]
[[Category:Racism in Syria]]