BREAKING NEWS

Islamic State claims deadly attack on Kurdish forces in north Syria

Islamic State said on Tuesday it had launched a deadly attack on Kurdish forces in northern Syria overnight, the first such claim by the group since US-backed forces proclaimed the capture of its last territory in Syria last week.
A spokesman for the US-backed militia that controls Manbij said a terrorist attack on a checkpoint at the city's entrance killed seven fighters on duty. A US official said all the casualties were among members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Islamic State said in a statement that "caliphate soldiers attacked a checkpoint of the apostate PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party)" west of Manbij using machine guns and killed nine fighters.
Some 30 km (20 miles) from the Turkish border, Manbij has been a flashpoint in the Syrian conflict and occupies a critical spot, near the junction of three separate blocks of territory that form the spheres of Russian, Turkish and US influence.