For the first time, Islamic State fighters penetrated Kobane and violence sparked in the Syrian city. And new US-led coalition airstrikes have targeted the positions held by ISIS insurgents in the southwest border of the Syrian city.
The airstrikes that was carried out on Tuesday came a day after ISIS penetrated into Kobane, taking hold of three districts in the east and raising the group's black flags after aggressive combats with its Syrian-Kurdish defenders. In the three weeks of battle for the Syrian city, at least 400 people have died and 160,000 Syrians have fled.
In support of Syrian Kurds on Tuesday, Paul Adams of the BBC has heard three raids in 30 minutes. He said that more airstrikes was carried out which later totaled to 8. So far, it was the most sustained coalition action in the area. Adams also stated that the fighting in the city has died down. However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cautioned that the airstrikes were not enough and Kobane was about to fall.
The latest US Military press release confirmed that five airstrikes were carried out around Kobane on Monday and Tuesday. According to their statement, the assaults had ruined four Islamic State armed vehicles and an "IS unit" and destroyed one IS tank and one armored vehicle. In the event that ISIS militants will seize the city, the terrorist group's jihadists will control a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.
Meanwhile, Yilmaz Akinci of Al Jazeera reported that the US-led coalition airstrikes had struck the center of Kobane. He said that about 40 minutes after the aerial assaults, ISIS militants began to shell inside the city center. The AFP news agency reported that a Kurdish flag could still be seen flying from the roof in the town's center.
According to Kurdish official Idris Nahsen, the Islamic State insurgents were trying hard to seize Kobane, but the Kurdish YPG force had stopped their progress. He also added that the US-led coalition airstrikes are helping but are insufficient. He called for arms and ammunition to be supplied to the Kurdish combatants.
"We need help from the international community. Either we finish them or they will finish us," Nahsen said. He continued that the Kurds were in contact with both the US-led coalition and Turkey in search for more assistance.
Kobane has become a vital battlefield in the global combat against ISIS militants. The fight has forced an estimated 186,000 civilians to flee to Turkey. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group said that the town is surrounded on three sides and a humanitarian operation to evacuate the few thousand civilians left continued on Tuesday.
Because of the violence in Kobane that caused the civilians to flee to Turkey, the country had found itself in a very challenging position. Last week, the Turkish parliament in Ankara approved the government to join a US-led mission against ISIS but no military action plans have been announced yet.
"Turkey doesn't want to see an autonomous Kurdish-area on its border with Syria, while it doesn't want ISIL to be in power either. And it doesn't want Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to take control either... it doesn't want to see it backfire in the future," Al Jazeera reporter Bernard Smith said.
Before the Islamic State attack in the city, Kobane had a population of approximately 300,000. And because of the terror group's violent attacks, US-led coalition airstrikes have intensified in an aim to destroy ISIS.
