"More than 75 percent of the province is in the hands of the People's Protection Units," said Kurdish journalist Malba Ali, who lives in Hassakeh.
Assad's forces largely pulled out of the region late last year when the Syrian military was stretched thin by fighting with rebels elsewhere in the country, effectively ceding control of the area, though they maintain some security posts. Their withdrawal sparked a fierce competition between rebels mainly Islamic militant factions and the Kurds.
Kurdish officials say they launched their offensive in recent months after coming under repeated attack by jihadis from two al-Qaida-linked groups fighting against Assad Jabhat al-Nusra, or the Nusra Front, and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. The Kurds say jihadis wanted to dominate their region and impose their hard-line ideology on the population, which is largely secular.
"As long as there are attacks by these groups, it is our duty in the People's Protection Units to defend our people by all available means," Reydour Khalil, a spokesman for the forces, told The Associated Press by telephone from the Kurdish region.
He said the Kurdish force has been so successful against the jihadis who have been among the strongest fighters among the rebels because "it is fighting on its land and among its people."
"It did not come from countries that thousands of kilometers (miles) away" he said referring to foreign extremists among the jihadi groups.
The units are dominated by members of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, Syria's most powerful Kurdish group, affiliated with the Turkish Kurdish movement PKK, which long fought for autonomy in southeastern Turkey.
The PYD is also the main faction behind the creation of the transitional civil administration for "western Kurdistan," announced Tuesday. The agreement by the PYD and a collection of smaller Syrian Kurdish factions, announced in the northeastern Kurdish-dominated city of Qamishli, created an 82-member assembly along with three local administrative councils. The groups said in a statement that the administration will organize local elections.
The groups insisted the administration would operate only until Syria's nearly 3-year-old civil war is resolved and is not a step toward autonomy.
"There are no preparations for self-rule. We are only working for a transitional administration," PYD spokesman Nawaf Khalil told AP.
But the move was quickly denounced by the main Western-backed Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, which accused the Kurdish factions of turning against the revolt against Assad. It said the Kurds' announcement represents "a separatist movement, disavowing any relationship between themselves and the Syrian people, who are struggling for a united nation independent and free from tyranny."
The gains have fueled calls by Kurds for an official autonomous region in Syria similar to that in Iraq. Already, Kurds have been grabbing a level of freedom they long sought in Syria, where for years Assad's governments forbade many expressions of Kurdish identity.
In Kurdish-dominated areas, vehicles sporting license plates reading "Rojava Kurdistan," or "western Kurdistan," have become more common. Kurdish red, green and white flags with a sun in the middle the same flag flown in Iraqi Kurdistan fly over homes and public offices. A local police force known "Asayish" has taken over security, and Kurdish language is being openly taught.
"The Kurds are trying to demarcate the border of their region, and Iraqi Kurds are helping them," said Hilal Khashan, political science professor at the American University of Beirut. "In the near future, Kurds will reach a self-rule period."
But not all Kurdish factions support the creation of a Kurdish administration. Some deeply distrust the PYD, believing it is allied with Assad, effectively holding the region on his behalf, freeing up Syrian troops to fight elsewhere. The PYD denies the accusations.
"The PYD is close or in alliance with the Syrian regime," Ali, the Hassakeh journalist, said. He said he believes the Kurdish offensive is aimed at putting as much territory as possible under PYD control to boost Assad's position ahead of a Geneva peace conference that the United States and Russia are trying to cobble together.
An umbrella group of 13 Kurdish factions called the National Kurdish Council said it balked at joining the new civil administration, calling it a "premature step."
Mustafa Osso, a senior figure in the council, said the differences don't reach the level of an "internal conflict" among the Kurds. But he criticized the PYD-led assault against jihadis, saying it was launched without consultation. Instead, he said, the Kurds should be focusing on fighting Assad.
"We are passing through a critical period and we need all efforts to bring down the regime," he said.
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Bassem Mroue can be reached on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/bmroue
