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Kurds 'Expel ISIS' from Strategic Kobane
[ISRAELNATIONALNEWS] Kurdish fighters have expelled Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... group holy warriors from inside the Syrian border town of Kobane, a monitor said Monday, dealing a key symbolic blow to the jihadists' ambitions. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britannia-based monitor, said fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) had finally pushed ISIS holy warriors out of the town after four months of fighting. In Iraq meanwhile, a senior army officer announced that Iraqi forces had also "liberated" Diyala province from ISIS. Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that YPG forces had "expelled all Islamic State fighters from Kobane and have full control of the town." "The Kurds are pursuing some jihadists on the eastern outskirts of Kobane, but there is no more fighting inside now." The monitor said Kurdish forces were carrying out "mopping-up operations" against remaining ISIS forces in the Maqtala district, on the eastern outskirts of the town. There was no immediate official announcement from the YPG, but Mustafa Ebdi, an activist from the town, told AFP that "fighting has stopped" in Kobane. YPG forces were "advancing carefully in Maqtala because of the threat of mines and boom-mobiles," he added. The advance by Kurdish fighters came after 24 hours of heavy bombing by the US-led coalition fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq. In a statement, the Pentagon said the coalition had carried out 17 air strikes against ISIS positions in Kobane in the 24 hours from January 25 alone. The targets included "tactical units" and "fighting positions" as well as an ISIS vehicle and staging areas, the statement said. The loss of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, would be a key symbolic blow against ISIS, which has lost more than 1,000 fighters since it began its advance on the town on September 16. Posted by: Fred 2015-01-26 |
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