ISIS's Advance in Kurdistan Rebuffed; But Attacking Into Lebanon

From the Wall Street Journal:

In the early morning hours of Saturday, Islamic State fighters tried to advance northward and briefly seized the town of Sheikhan, moving closer to the Kurdish-controlled province of Dohuk. However, by the afternoon, the fighters pulled back from Sheikhan, said a local resident, who added that they remained on the outskirts of the town. 

A Kurdistan Regional Government official said the town remains under the control of its military forces known as the Peshmerga.It wasn't immediately clear why the Islamic State insurgents retreated. 

The militants appear to be trying to connect up the towns they have seized along the 650-mile border of Kurdish-controlled territory, an advance that has alarmed the Kurdistan Regional Government and panicked residents. 

South of Erbil, in the city of Kirkuk, Kurdish forces significantly tightened security measures on Saturday, fearing a militant advance, according to a security official there. The move came after security forces repelled an insurgent attack on Touz Khurmato, a Shiite Turkmen town in Salaheddine province, southeast of Kirkuk. The town is about a 45 minute drive from Kirkuk city. 

Town mayor Shalal Abdoul said dozens of militants attacked from two sides after striking the town with mortars. After clashes that lasted until dawn Saturday, Peshmerga fighters with Iraqi air support pushed the militants back, killing 37, the mayor said.

 Meanwhile, the Daily Mail reports:

Refugees taking shelter in Lebanon from violent jihadists have turned around and headed back into war-torn Syria after insurgents launched repeated attacks across the border. 

The fleeing victims of the Syrian civil war were seen yesterday at the border town of Arsal, picking through the remains of a refugee camp which Islamist fighters burned to the ground. 

Having previously thought of Lebanon as a relatively safe haven from the long-running civil war between Syria dictator Bashar Assad and hard-line Muslim forces in the country, the Syrian victims found themselves in the firing line earlier this week after new attacks. 

Today a new wave of Jihadists attacked the village of Kfar Qouq, but were forced back by armed locals. 

Some of the fighters are thought to be members of the Islamic State (IS) group, despite their strongholds being hundreds of miles away in the north-east of Syria and parts of Iraq. 

Lebanese security sources said the jihadist forces had also been under attack from Syrian government forces that day.