The Kurdish city of Kobani in northern Syria is facing a new wave of attacks launched by Islamic State (IS) militants.
According to information obtained by BasNews, heavy clashes are ongoing between the Kurdish fighters known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and IS extremists. Locals claim IS militants are massacring Kurdish villagers around the city.
One and a half months after the heavy defeat inflicted on IS in the battle for Kobani by YPG fighters, Kurdish Peshmerga forces and United States-led airstrikes, the city is now facing a renewed offensive by IS.
The jihadists used boats to cross the Euphrates River and enter the western part of the city.
According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), “In their attempt to reach the city, at least 20 IS jihadists have been killed by YPG fighters.
“US-led airstrikes shelled a number of boats used by IS to cross the Euphrates River to attack the west bank of Kobani.”
Local activists claimed, “IS militants kidnapped 10 Kurdish villagers around Kobani and accused them of having links to the Syrian regime and Kurdish political parties. Later IS executed them all.”
Kobani is a Kurdish town in northern Syria, lying immediately south of the border with Turkey. As a consequence of the Syrian conflict the city has been under the control of the YPG since 2012. In 2014, it was unofficially declared to be the administrative center of the Kobani canton of the Kurdistan area of Syria (Rojava).
From September 2014 to January 2015 the city was held under a heavy siege by IS, as a result the city was largely destroyed and most of the population fled to Turkey. In early 2015, after the siege on the city was broken and IS was defeated, many people returned and the rebuilding process started.
