IS pushed back by airstrikes

US pounds Islamic State in Kobane, drives them out of the city 

Ankara : A Kurdish official in Kobane said that US-led airstrikes have successfully pushed back Islamic State insurgents from parts of the besieged Syrian town.

 “The international coalition has fought ISIS more effectively during the last few days,” Nassen told AFP, using an alternative name for IS.  “Before they (IS) were in control of 30 percent of Kobane and now they control less than 20 percent thanks to the international coalition,” he said.

  Nassen said Kurdish forces were “flushing out” IS fighters from the eastern and southeastern parts of the town on the border with Turkey, calling for more military assistance. “We need more airstrikes, as well as weaponry and ammunition to fight them on the ground,” he said.

  Using bomber and fighter aircraft, US conducted 14 airstrikes. Initial reports indicate the strikes successfully struck 19 ISIL buildings, two ISIL command posts, three ISIL fighting positions, three ISIL sniper positions, one ISIL staging location, and one ISIL heavy machine gun, the US Central Command said, reports PTI.

These airstrikes are designed to interdict ISIL reinforcements and resupply and prevent ISIL from massing combat power on the Kurdish held portions of Kobani, it said.   “Indications are that airstrikes have continued to slow ISIL advances, but that the security situation on the ground in Kobani remains tenuous,” CENTCOM added.

 The US strikes are being conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the terrorist group ISIL and the threat they pose to Iraq, the region and the wider international community.

The airstrikes in and around the Syrian city of Kobani, including 39 over the past two days, has killed hundreds of Islamic State fighters and has stiffened the city’s Kurdish defenders, the Pentagon’s spokesman said. Offering an unusually detailed description of the fighting, Rear Adm John Kirby told reporters that all but “hundreds” of civilians have evacuated the city and that increasing numbers of Islamic State group fighters are flowing in.