Jihadists killed in Syria clashes

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 35 Islamic State jihadists have been killed in clashes with Kurdish fighters.

At least 35 Islamic State jihadists have been killed in clashes with Kurds in Syria's north. (AAP)

At least 35 Islamic State jihadists have been killed in clashes with Syrian Kurds in the country's north.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday the deaths came in three separate encounters around the flashpoint town of Kobane.

At least 22 of the jihadists were killed in fighting on the border between Aleppo and Raqa province, where IS has its de facto capital.

That battle marked the first time in months fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units had expanded their attacks to the edge of Raqa province.

Four YPG fighters were killed in those clashes, with the Kurdish forces capturing the strategic Tal Baghdaq hilltop, the Observatory said.

The other jihadist deaths came in clashes to the west and south of Kobane, the key border town that Kurdish forces recaptured on January 26.

IS fighters began advancing on the town last September, and at one point looked poised to overrun it, cementing their grip on a long stretch of the Syria-Turkey border.

But YPG ground forces backed by US-led air strikes were able to repel the IS fighters.

Since the town's recapture, YPG forces have been expanding their control from Kobane into the surrounding countryside, where they have largely encountered little resistance from the jihadists.