Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuter
In The Battle For Kobani, ISIS Falls Back. But For How Long? -- Jamie Dettmer, Daily Beast
Potential reinforcements from Iraq, U.S. airstrikes, and the sheer bravery of the town’s defenders may hand ISIS a major defeat. But the battle’s not over.
SURUC, Turkey — There was sun and blue sky over the besieged Syrian border town of Kobani on Monday, perfect conditions for airstrikes. But for most of the day there was an eerie quiet.
From the Turkish villages nearby we didn’t hear the now familiar sounds of U.S. bombing sorties or the thuds and bangs of light artillery and tank shelling. Instead we heard the crackle of automatic gunfire and we could see gray smoke rising from the eastern side of the town. According to fighters and civilians inside, contacted by phone, this was evidence that the militants of the so-called Islamic State were torching buildings as they pulled out.
The belated uptick in well-directed and coordinated U.S. airstrikes, the stubborn almost suicidal resistance of Kobani Kurds—men and women—and Sunday night’s air-drop by U.S. military cargo planes of arms, ammunition and medical gear has shifted the balance.
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My Comment: It is too early to tell if the battle has shifted in favor of the Kurds.
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