Kurdish forces and their Syrian allies have captured a key town from Islamic State fighters, just 50 km from Raqqa, the de-facto capital of the self-declared caliphate.
A spokesman for the the Popular Protection Units (YPG) said Ain Issa and its surrounding villages were now under the militia's "total control".
US-led coalition air strikes supported the assault on the town, the latest to fall to the Kurds.
"Islamic State's defensive lines have now been pushed back to the outskirts of Raqqa city because the area between Raqqa and Ain Issa is militarily weak and they have no fortifications," Rami Abdul Rahman, the Syrian Observatory's director, told the AFP news agency.
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