Sunday Times 2
Ramped-up air strikes stall Islamic State advance on Syrian town
View(s):MURSITPINAR Turkey (Reuters) – Two days of heavy air strikes by U.S. warplanes have slowed an advance by Islamic State militants against Kurdish forces defending the Syrian border town of Kobani.
A Turkish aid worker distributes food to Kurdish refugees from the Syrian town of Kobani (Reuters)
Turkish and U.S. officials said last week that Islamic State was on the verge of taking Kobani from its heavily outgunned Kurdish defenders, after seizing strategic points deep inside the town.
The tempo of coalition air strikes has increased dramatically, with U.S. fighter and bomber planes carrying out 14 raids against Islamic State targets near Kobani on Wednesday and Thursday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said.
The strikes had seen the militants’ advance slow, but “the security situation on the ground in Kobani remains tenuous,” the U.S. statement added.
The four-week Islamic State assault has been seen as a test of U.S. President Barack Obama’s air strike strategy, and Kurdish leaders say the town cannot survive without arms and ammunition reaching the defenders, something neighbouring Turkey has so far refused to allow.
The State Department said on Thursday that a U.S. official had held direct talks for the first time last weekend with a Syrian Kurdish group involved in the fight against Islamic State in Syria, including Kobani. Kurdish spokesmen said their forces were giving coordinates of the militants’ positions to the United States.
A journalist in Kobani said air strikes had allowed Kurdish forces to go on the offensive for the first time since Islamic State launched their assault four weeks ago.