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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Scores of foreign fighters among Kobane dead |
| 2015-01-28 |
| Washington -- Large numbers of foreign fighters are among the jihadists killed in the battle for the Syrian town of Kobane, a senior US official said Tuesday, saying the concerted campaign was halting the militants' march. The United States says Kurdish fighters are now in control of about 90 percent of the town on the Syrian-Turkish border. "ISIL is now, whether on order or whether they are breaking ranks, is beginning to withdraw from the town," a senior State Department official told reporters. But he warned that the militants, also known as ISIL, were "adaptive and resilient" and no-one was declaring "mission accomplished" yet. The US and some 60 coalition partners is engaged in the "first phase of a multi-year campaign," he stressed. But a victory in Kobane was an important milestone in trying to change "the narrative" of the militants who have attracted thousands of foreign fighters to their ranks, mostly disaffected youth drawn by the promise of adventure. IS had poured some of its best foreign fighters into Kobane, the State Department official said, but in the last six weeks the losses had begun to cause splits in the ranks. The group has even executed foreign fighters for refusing orders to deploy to the town. Observers say IS lost nearly 1,200 fighters in the battle, of a total of 1,800 killed, despite outgunning YPG forces with sophisticated weaponry captured from Iraqi and Syrian military bases. "We don't get into body counts, but it's in the four figures in terms of the overall number of ISIL fighters that have been killed," the State Department official confirmed. Many foreign fighters -- many of them Australians, Belgians, Canadians and Chechens -- were among them, he said, refusing to give exact figures other than to say "it was hugely, hugely significant." "The entire notion of this organization which is on the march, inevitable expansion, (its) overall momentum has been halted at Kobane," he added. "Kobane shows that you're not going to be part of something great .. so the whole narrative that ISIL is trying to put out, Kobane really puts a dent in it." |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #10 swks: Bravo! Star Trek rules! |
| Posted by: borgboy 2015-01-28 18:09 |
| #9 They'll acquire all sorts of war materiel when they move deeper into ISIS territory -- though perhaps somewhat worse for wear -- assuming they don't consolidate current gains and become the anvil to the Iraqi government forces future hammer. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2015-01-28 15:28 |
| #8 The US and some 60 coalition partners is engaged in the "first phase of a multi-year campaign You know it took less than a year from Normandy to the Elbe. Of course, then there was 'will', 'focus' and little or no political interference in dealing with an even bigger and more dangerous enemy. Of course, we didn't a Teutophile in the White House. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2015-01-28 15:20 |
| #7 Kurdish YPG and YPJ forces that defended Kobane are advancing across open country outside of Kobane to destroy ISIS in that region of Syria. The good news is CENTCOM is going with them. Airstrikes in open areas where the YPG and YPJ are pushing ISIS back are on going. |
| Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 2015-01-28 14:51 |
| #6 Nah - no drones needed compared to artillery. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2015-01-28 14:31 |
| #5 Or drones that can shoot hellfires? |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2015-01-28 13:41 |
| #4 Imagine what they could doi if they actually had something more than small arms - like, say, artillery. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2015-01-28 12:22 |
| #3 The Kurds, at Kobane, when the ISIS fell. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2015-01-28 10:54 |
| #2 Kurds punching above their weight again. Why are our politicians so dense as to not realize who our best allies in that region are? |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2015-01-28 10:27 |
| #1 "We don't get into body counts" . But every statement you make has a body count in it. |
| Posted by: chris 2015-01-28 10:08 |