The PKK Syrian affiliate Democratic Union Party's (PYD) armed People's Protection Units (YPG) seized the village of Kishtiar north of Aleppo with Russian air support after clashes with opposition groups on Sunday, local sources said.

Kishtiar, located 10 kilometers south of the town of Azaz and 17 kilometers from the Turkish border, was previously taken from the PYD by rebel groups in November.

Sources indicate that Russian aircraft launched strikes on opposition groups around the village. Some rebel groups there fight the YPG and also conduct offensives in several towns and villages in northern Aleppo. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, confirmed the recent offensives and Russian air support.

The area has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks. It is strategically important to both sides as it marks the border between the isolated PYD canton of Afrin and the thin strip of land connecting the opposition-held eastern half of Aleppo to the Turkish border.

Civilians in the region face a rising threat from the PYD, since the YPG has consecutively gained control of villages around Azaz, including Tinib, Shewarxa and Malikiyah. Russia, in cooperation with the YPG and supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad in the field, says its operations in Syria target DAESH, but it has been bombing the opposition groups that also fight the terrorist organization.

Furthermore, opposition groups in Azaz are reportedly about to be besieged by the YPG and DAESH, according to the groups' commanders.

Local sources indicate that together with the rising YPG threat, DAESH is also just 14 kilometers from the town after seizing six villages around the city.

Situated at the Bab al-Salam border point on the Turkish border and the main gateway for fighters and supplies, the town is an important strategic point for opposition groups and, in the event they lose control of it, the groups would be disconnected from their supply lines. Moreover, it is of concern that thousands of people might be deprived of access to humanitarian aid.

Azaz is on the western edge of an area where almost 400,000 Turkmens live. Turkmen officials indicate that they are being threatened by the PYD, which allegedly aims to enter Jarabulus after seizing the Tishrin Dam from DAESH.