[Somewhere else it is reported that the ISIS has now started moving in smaller groups and without the black flag flying thereby making it much more difficult to identify them for the sky.]
I/II. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/10/new-coalition-air-strikes-hit-isil-kobane-2014108144236305757.html New coalition air strikes hit ISIL in Kobane *Reports that armed group has been pushed back to edges of city by Syrian-Kurdish fighters after intensive air strikes.* Last updated: 08 Oct 2014 14:52 After the pullback, ISIL fighters were still present in eastern parts of the city and its southern edges [Reuters] New US-led airstrikes have targeted fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) near Kobane, carrying out six attacks to help Kurdish fighters defending the Syrian border town, the US military said. US and allied bombers, fighter jets and robotic drones hit the ISIL group over a 24 hour period with four strikes south of the town, destroying an armored personnel carrier, three vehicles and an artillery piece, Central Command said in a statement on Wednesday. A fifth raid southwest of Kobane destroyed an ISIL armed vehicle and a sixth strike decimated an artillery cannon on the "southern edge" of the town, it said. Inside Story - Targeting ISIL: are the air strikes working? Despite the airstrikes, ISIL fighters managed to push into parts of the town, located on the Syria-Turkish border, also known under its Arabic name of Ain Al-Arab. An activist group said the strikes killed at least 45 fighters since late Monday, forcing them to withdraw from parts of Kobane. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday's strikes targeted ISIL fighters east of Kobane and them to withdraw from several streets they had controlled earlier. Meanwhile, an attack apparently carried out by Kurdish fighters inside the town destroyed a mosque minaret, which ISIL group had used as an outlook, activists said. Heavy gunfire was heard from inside the town in a sign of fresh clashes on Wednesday. The Observatory said most of the fighting as in the town's Kani Arban neighborhood. Kobane has been under the onslaught of the ISIL group since mid-September whenISIL fighters launched their offensive in the area, capturing several Kurdish villages around the town and bringing Syria's civil war yet again to Turkey's doorstep. The fighting has forced some 200,000 of the town residents and villagers from the area to flee and seek shelter across the frontier in Turkey. Activists also say that more than 400 people have been killed in the fighting. ISIL has conquered vast swaths of Syria and Iraq, declaring a self-styled caliphate governed by its strict interpretation of Islamic teaching, or Shariah. Source: Agencies II. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29546714 9 October 2014 Last updated at 05:03 Kobane: US and UK warn of airstrike limitations Paul Adams on the Turkey-Syria border: "This was a day of colossal explosions" The US and UK have warned that air strikes alone will not prevent Islamic State (IS) fighters from seizing the Syrian town of Kobane. A Pentagon spokesman said the US and its allies were "doing everything we can from the air" but there were limits to what the campaign could achieve. Similar views were expressed by British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond. A Kurdish leader in Kobane told Reuters news agency IS militants had entered parts of the city amid heavy fighting. Western leaders say that Kobane may still fall despite the power of airstrikes Kurds have held protests in several Turkish cities Seizing the town would give the IS jihadists full control of a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border. The US also appeared to be at odds with allies over a Turkish idea to create a buffer zone or safe haven along the border. Three weeks of fighting over Kobane has cost the lives of 400 people, and forced more than 160,000 Syrians to flee across the border to Turkey. 'No effective partner' "Air strikes alone are not going to save the town of Kobane," Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm John Kirby said. "We know that. And we've been saying that over and over again." He said that ultimately rebel fighters in Syria and Iraqi troops would have to defeat IS militants, but it would take time. "We don't have a willing, capable, effective partner on the ground inside Syria right now," he said, warning that other towns could also fall to the IS. Likewise Mr Hammond said that it was "never envisaged" that the use of air power "in this battle would turn the tide in the short-term". "I don't want to suggest that there is anything readily that the coalition can do that will make a fundamental difference (...) in the tactical situation that's faced around Kobane," he said. Turkey's complicated relationship with the Kurds explained Asya Abdullah, a co-leader of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party representing Syrian Kurds in Kobane, said that on Wednesday night IS entered two districts of Kobane with heavy weapons, including tanks. "Civilians may have died because there are very intense clashes," he said. Another official there said IS had seized some buildings in the east and that there was fierce fighting with Kurdish resistance forces. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said IS forces had advanced about 100m towards the town centre on Wednesday evening. It added that IS was bringing in reinforcements from its stronghold in Raqqa province. The US Central Command said in a statement late on Wednesday that eight coalition air strikes had hit targets in Kobane. It said five IS armed vehicles, an IS supply depot and other buildings had been destroyed. Suspected IS militants in Kobane, in a photo taken from the Turkish side of the border The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Martin Dempsey, told ABC News that IS was becoming "more savvy". "We have been striking when we can. They don't fly flags and move around in large convoys the way they did. They don't establish headquarters that are visible or identifiable." Meanwhile Turkey remains under intense pressure to do more to help the Kurdish forces in Kobane. Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and President Obama's envoys to the coalition against IS are in Ankara for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on possible Turkish action. In a BBC interview a senior Kurdish politician in Turkey, Meral Daniss Bestas, called for "a safe corridor for Kurds to supply arms and humanitarian aid to Kobane". At least 19 people have been killed in Kurdish protests over Turkey's role. [image: Chart] -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
