Beirut- Lebanon - Kurdish fighters snatched full control of the Syria's northern town of Kobani on Monday, repulsing Islamic State militants out as US led airstrikes helped them in battle,
The tough battle for the border town had symbolic significance as it was within sight of the Turkish border. It became the most ostentatious in the US led coalition’s war against the ISIS, which has wrested large areas of Syria and Iraq, and the terrorist group’s defeat in Kobani teared apart the aura of invincibility it wanted to propagate. But even as the Kurds celebrated, some fighters said clearing the town was no big achievement, as it took more than 700 airstrikes to do it, nearly 1/3 of all the allied strikes in Syria so far, and that Kobani was a relatively non-significant border city with a population of about 45,000. Improved coordination between Kurdish infantry and the US-led air raids made it possible to destroy ISIS occupation in the city, the commander told. But the battle illustrated different story, the extremists’ ability and wish to withhold and sustain on for months in the wake of punishing and disastrous air strikes, even in territory with limited strategic importance.
