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KURDS in Kobane claimed last night that a combination of US air strikes and advances by people’s protection units (YPG) had pushed Isis forces back to the edges of the town.
The BBC reported a senior Kurdish official as saying that a group of fighters from the near-mythical Free Syrian Army had moved behind Isis lines, causing heavy losses.
The US-led aerial coalition stepped up its bombardment of Isis positions while lightly armed YPG troops battled street by street against the jihadis, who deployed tanks and other armour.
A US central command spokesman said that five air strikes south of Kobane since Wednesday had destroyed a support building and two vehicles and damaged a training camp.
The strikes also hit two groups of Isis fighters, he said.
“Indications are that Kurdish militia there continue to control most of the city and are holding out against Isis,” he added.
But despite the overnight and early-morning air raids, Isis managed to capture a police station in the east of the town before the station was hit by coalition jets.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which gathers information from opposition activists across Syria, said that YPG forces had surrounded the jihadis in the area of the station and that heavy fighting was taking place.
The observatory said that Isis had seized more than a third of Kobane but Kurdish officials disputed that, saying that their forces had recaptured several parts of the town.
“I can confirm that they don’t control a third of the city. There is only a small part of Kobane under the control of Daesh (Isis),” said local official Idriss Nassan.
Both he and the observatory reported more than 20 air strikes since the previous afternoon.
Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu welcomed Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg to Ankara yesterday, reiterating his government’s stance that it is unrealistic to expect Turkey to launch a ground war against Isis on its own.
Neither he nor his guest connected with the Kurds’ insistence that they reject any further Turkish involvement, preferring that Ankara ends its helping hand to Isis by blocking reinforcements and weaponry from reaching the YPG from Turkey.
