Politic?

This is a blog dedicated to a personal interpretation of political news of the day. I attempt to be as knowledgeable as possible before commenting and committing my thoughts to a day's communication.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Saving (what's left of) Kobane

"We can tell everyone, not just those on the front lines, that we are drawing up the necessary tactics and plans to liberate the city."
Jamil Marzuka, senior commander, YPG Kurdish Syrian fighting force 

"Fighting has broken out in the south and northeast of the city and heavy weaponry is used in the fight."
"ISIS hasn't been able to make any advance. On the contrary the Peshmerga and the Peoples Protection Units (YPG) are moving forward and ISIS is on the retreat."
Brigadier Toufik Khazyavayi 

Kurdish fighters control parts of Kobane now [AFP]


The YPG commanders state that they are now in control of about 80 percent of Kobane with coalition airstrikes having taken their toll, bombarding ISIS positions around the city repeatedly. Kurdish fighters take their sandbagged positions, firing at the areas where they suspect ISIS positions to be located. Female fighters have strung up sheets around their trenches to block the view of snipers as warplanes circle above.


A videojournalist inside Kobane shot views of the destroyed landscape resulting from two months of vicious fighting that has transformed the Kurdish town in northern Syria close by the border with Turkey. Backed by a small group of Iraqi Peshmerga along with some Free Syrian Army rebels, the Kurds are locked in what they feel will be the final stages of the rousting of ISIS forces from their town. The civilian Kurds huddling for haven in Turkey will not have much to return to.


In the past two days an estimated 50 jihadis of the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant  have been killed, a colossal setback for the group since its assault on the border city was launched with much jihadist confidence in mid-September. According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights the deaths resulted from suicide bombings, U.S.-led airstrikes and clashes between the ISIS terrorists and the defending YPG and their allies.

The Kurds suffered their own losses; some eleven of their number also killed, as well as one Syrian rebel fighter. Though the Kurdish commanders speak of 80% control, experts feel that control of the city is now fairly evenly divided between ISIL and the defending Kurds; quite an advance however from a few weeks earlier when ISIS had control of two-thirds of the city though the YPG claim its fighters have complete control of the border crossing with Turkey, as well now cutting off ISIS supply route.

The airdrop of weapons by the U.S. to benefit the Kurdish fighters, and the hundreds of airstrikes since the U.S.-led coalition began bombing militant positions has helped the YPG enormously in its existential battle. Leading the Kurds to insist that a corner has been turned in the conflict; the jihadist advance has been halted, and they're being turned back. The fighting has "entered  a new phase", according to to senior commander Jamil Marzurka.

Only small pockets of ISIS jihadis remain, according to a YPG fighter.  "They are scattered so as to give us the impression that there are a lot of them, but there are not", said Pozul. Caution, however, remains the order of the day in their movements since snipers with the Islamic State remain within the ruins and it's well known they have booby-trapped buildings as they leave.

Zardash Kobani, 26, a YPG unit commander, admitted that he and his fighters have little ammunition and even less sleep, but there is satisfaction in knowing the jihadis are looking for an escape from their position in Kobane. It is his feeling that a final battle for the town is on the near horizon. "But Islamic State knows that escaping from Kobane will spell their downfall."

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