Syrian Kurds made rapid advances in the north Tuesday, expelling militants from a string of villages, as mistrust between Kurds and Arabs grows

Syrian Kurds made rapid advances in the north Tuesday, expelling militants from a string of villages, as mistrust between Kurds and Arabs grows.

Kurdish fighters expelled jihadists from several villages around the majority Kurdish town of Cobany, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. In the village of Jalbeh they captured militant leader Abu Raad and several of his men, it added.

In Hassakeh province, Kurdish-militant fighting raged for a seventh day in the Jal Agha area and other parts of the majority Kurdish province.

The latest clashes come a week after fighters loyal to the Committees for the Protection of the Kurdish People (YPG) expelled the Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria from the strategic Kurdish town of Ras al-Ain in Hassakeh province.

Fighting has since spread to several areas of Raqqa province to the west.

At least 70 people have been killed in the fighting, most of them militants, the Observatory said. “What we are seeing is the spreading of fighting between Kurds and jihadists westward, across areas that are home to both Arab and Kurdish communities,” Observatory director Rami Abdel-Rahman said.