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defeat-kobani/2015/... Cached Jan 31, 2015 · ISIS Admits Defeat in Kobani. Saturday, 31 Jan 2015 08:56 AM Get Link | Email Article | Comment | Contact ... - Jan 31, 2015 · Isis finally admits defeat in Kobani after air strikes force its fighters to retreat ... The failure to capture Kobani was a major blow to Isis.
Isis finally admits defeat in Kobani after air strikes force its fighters to retreat
‘We had to withdraw and the rats advanced’, say Islamic State fighters in video statement after US-led attacks drive jihadis from Syrian town
A Syrian Kurdish sniper looks at the rubble of Kobani, which Islamic State controlled half of before being driven from the town. Photograph: AP Islamic State (Isis) has admitted for the first time that US-led air strikes on Kobani have forced its fighters from the Syrian town.
Two fighters from the Islamist group said in a video that aerial attacks by fighter jets from the US and several Arab countries were the main reason for the withdrawal.
“The warplanes were bombarding us night and day. They bombarded everything, even motorcycles,” one said in Arabic.
Another said the warplanes “destroyed everything, so we had to withdraw and the rats advanced”.
They vowed to attack the town again and defeat Syria’s main Kurdish militia, the YPG.
The US military confirmed that Kobani had been retaken from Isis.
Lieutenant-General James Terry, the commander of the task force that has been leading air strikes against Isis, said: “Kurdish ground forces, supported by our air component, were successful in retaking the town.”
Earlier this week activists and Kurdish officials said Kobani was almost cleared of Isis fighters, who once controlled almost half of the town.
The failure to capture Kobani was a major blow to Isis. Their hopes for an easy victory dissolved into a costly siege under relentless air strikes by coalition forces and an assault by Kurdish militia that cost the lives of about 1,000 fighters.
The US and several Arab allies have been targeting Isis positions in Syria since late September.
The aerial campaign aimed to push back the jihadis after Isis took over about a third of Iraq and Syria and declared the captured territory a new caliphate.
Isis began an offensive in the Kobani area in mid-September, capturing more than 300 Kurdish villages and parts of the town.
However, the air strikes and staunch Kurdish resistance forced its fighters to begin retreating few weeks ago.
More than 200,000 Kurds were forced from their homes, with many fleeing across the nearby border to Turkey.
Last Sunday the Turkish disaster and emergency management authority opened its biggest refugee camp to date. The camp, in the predominantly Kurdish border town of Suruç, can accommodate 35,000 refugees from Kobani.
Turkish troops are blocking the border to stop residents from returning until the town is safe. But even when the all-clear is given, many people from Kobani may decide the scale of destruction makes going back any time soon futile.
“They tell us Kobani does not exist any more,” said Adila Hassan, a 33-year-old mother in the newly constructed camp. “We do not know how long we will be staying here. We will return once the town is rebuilt. That’s not going to happen soon.”
“Return, yes, but not in the near future,” agreed Anwar, a 34-year-old school teacher living in a nearby tent.
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Isis admits defeat in Kobani after air
strikes force it...
Saturday, January 31, 2015
ISIS Admits Defeat in Kobani
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