Kurdish forces drive Isil fighters out of Syrian border town
Kurdish fighters ousted the Islamic State group from the Syrian border town of Kobane, two days after the jihadists had seized several neighbourhoods
A Turkish soldier on the Turkish side of the border in Suruclooks on as vast plumes of smoke rise from the Syrian town of Kobane Photo: Bulent Kilic/AFP
By Louisa Loveluck, Cairo
12:17PM BST 27 Jun 2015
Kurdish forces have taken full control of Kobane, three days after Islamic State (Isil) militants launched one of their deadliest massacres of the Syrian civil war.
At least 200 civilians were killed in the attack, which also resulted in the deaths of 16 Kurdish fighters and 54 jihadists.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, confirmed that YGP units had captured positions held by Isil since Thursday’s bloody assault on the city. Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Observatory, said the death toll was still mounting as Kurdish forces discovered more bodies. His group described Thursday’s attack as Isil’s second largest massacre of Syria’s four year-long war.
The attack, beginning at the same time as an assault 250 miles eastwards in the city of Hassakah, has been seen as an attempt by Isil to stretch Kurdish forces to breaking point, diverting attention away from the militants’ Raqqa heartlands. A coalition of YPG and rebel fighters seized the strategically important border town of Tel Abyad from Isil in mid-June, cutting a key route through which foreign fighters and supplies have been ferried through Syria.
“The situation is under control, we do not think the jihadists are hiding in the city anymore,” said Redur Xelil, a spokesman for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). He said 60 jihadists had been killed in the three days of fighting, and that Kurdish fighters were sweeping the city on Saturday morning in search of any remaining fighters.
“This was not about re-taking Kobani, this was about sending a message that they are still to be feared,” said Mr Xelil.
In this sense, the Kobani attack is a mission accomplished. Thursday morning’s attack sowed seeds of terror across the city, beginning with car bombs and ending with civilians shot in the streets and executed in their homes.
Kobane has symbolic importance, having previously been the site of a five month-long battle where Kurdish forces, backed by US airpower, fought to dislodge Isil from its turf.
In Hassakah, the fighting continued on Saturday morning, as Isil launched fresh attacks on the eastern part of the city and the nearby village of Tel Brak. Photographs circulating on social media showed the militants using US-made anti-tank missiles that were likely to have been seized by rebel forces.
60,000 people have fled the latest bout of fighting in Hassakah, and the United Nations has warned this figure could rise as high as 200,000.
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