The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Kurdish fighters on December 13 killed 16 Islamic State militants in a battle near Syria’s northeastern border with Turkey.
The monitoring group says the assault targeted IS positions to the south of the town of Ras al-Ain in Hasakeh Province.
It also reported clashes at the IS-besieged border town of Kobane about 100 kilometers from Ras al-Ain.
The IS fighters launched an assault on Kobane in mid-September after seizing large swathes of territory in Syria and neighboring Iraq during the preceding months.
But their assault on Kobane has been held off by militia fighters in so-called Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), as well as Kurdish Peshmerga reinforcements from Iraq, and air strikes by a U.S.-led international coalition.
Ras al-Ain had been the scene of fierce fight last year before Kurdish forces ousted the IS militants from the border town.
