The Syrian Kurdish–Islamist conflict, a major theater in the Syrian civil war, started after fighting erupted between the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and Islamist rebel factions in the city of Ras al-Ayn. Kurdish forces launched a campaign in an attempt to take control of the Islamist-controlled areas in the governorate of al-Hasakah and some parts of ar-Raqqah and Aleppo governorates after al-Qaeda in Syria used those areas to attack the YPG. The Kurds' goal was also to strengthen the autonomy, clean Kurdish areas from Islamist rebels and freedom of the region of Rojava.