Islamic State seizes parts of Syrian city Hasaka, says monitor

Beirut: Islamic State fighters wrested areas of the northeastern Syrian city of Hasaka from government control in fighting overnight, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring organisation said on Thursday.

A Syrian military source denied the report, saying the army had repelled the attack.

The city of Hasaka is divided into zones controlled separately by the Damascus government and a Kurdish administration whose well-organised militia has been on the offensive against Islamic State, making significant gains against the group in its stronghold of Raqqa province.