Syria, (en) Kurdish fighters turning the tide at Kobani

Kurdish fighters at Kobani are starting to gain ground against ISIS forces, days after the 
jihadists had penetrated the besieged town in northern Syria. Images on the Daily Mail 
website show Kurdish YPG fighters triumphantly raising their flag above Tel Shair hill in 
the west of the town, where the black jihadist flag ISIS had recently been flying. The 
report emphasizes the role of US air-strikes in the turn-around, and also claims the YPG 
has started to press local youth into its ranks in a conscription drive. The Washington 
Post shows images of the latest US strikes on ISIS positions at Kobani, and notes that the 
US-led military campaign has now been officially dubbed "Inherent Resolve."

However, YPG's defense minister in Kobani, ?smet ??x Hesen, speaking to the independent 
Kurdish news agency D?HA, downplayed the role of outside aid, saying, "Air-strikes are 
effective but not reaching their factual target." In an awkwardly translated quote, he 
denied that arms have reached Kobani's defenders, either from Iraq's Kurdish regional 
government or world powers: "We have called for aid for times up to now. [Sic] We are 
renewing our appeals to our people, international community and states. Nobody heard us. 
The world closed its ears and remained silent. No aid of weaponry made for [has reached] 
Koban?."

A YPG statement noted that Oct. 14 marked the 30th day of the siege on Kobani. The 
statement claimed 1,294 ISIS fighters have been killed in the fighting thus far, although 
it failed to give a figure for YPG fighters killed. It also claimed 10 ISIS tanks and a 
large number of military vehicles have been destroyed by YPGF forces. (ANF)

Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy to Syria, again warned of a likely "massacre" if 
Kobani falls. He said some 700 non-combatants, most of them elderly people, remain in the 
town, while 12,000 people are caught between the town and the Turkish border. He issued an 
"appeal to the Turkish authorities" to "allow the flow of volunteers" across the border to 
Kobani. (Alliance for Kurdish Rights)

Local Kurds and their supporters from across Turkey have launched a "resistance vigil" at 
the border near Kobani in solidarity with the town's defenders, protesting the closure of 
the border by Turkish security forces. The resistance vigil is being maintained at the 
border villages of Mahser and Miseynter. (ANF)

Some volunteers have apparently managed to get through. The remains of one Kurdish fighter 
killed at Kobani were returned to the Turkish town of Batman, where a massive funeral 
procession accompanied his coffin draped with the PKK flag. The crowd chanted "Long live 
the YPG resistance," "Kurdistan will become a grave for ISIS," and "Martyrs are immortal!" 
(D?HA)