The northeast Syrian town of Tal Tamr, in the Hasakeh Province, saw three different major car bombings today, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens of others. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the toll is expected to rise as the blasts damaged a large number of buildings and left many badly wounded.
Tal Tamr is a Kurdish town, under the control of the Kurdish YPG, which has been fighting ISIS throughout the area for months. ISIS claims to have seized hills leading to Tal Tamr yesterday, and are planning an advance on the town itself.
Though ISIS didn’t take credit for the car bombings, such attacks are often carried out in the days leading up to an ISIS attack on any city, damaging the morale of the defenders and overwhelming medical facilities even before their main force arrives.
ISIS has been trying to take the Hasakeh Province all year, as it is in between their capital of Raqqa and their main territorial possessions in northwestern Iraq. So far, however, they’ve failed to take much territory from the YPG, and the two sides have mostly traded smaller villages back and forth throughout the year.