YPG‬ fighting ‪ISIS‬ in Southern Kobane - Video

YPG‬ fighting ‪ISIS‬ in Southern Kobane - Video.

About 200 fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have been killed in a recent offensive against a Kurdish-held area of northern Syria (West-Kurdistan).

Reinforced with advanced weaponry captured from the Iraqi army in the fall of Mosul, ISIS forces last Wednesday attacked villages to the west of Kobane using 10 tanks and other armoured vehicles against forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG).

On Friday, the YPG withdrew from a number of villages, in what it described as a tactical retreat, after ISIS bombarded the area with more than 3000 mortars. YPG units have since retaken Zormixar, a strategic village overlooking the town of Jarablus, as well as Khrab Ato, Bayadia, Ziyareteh and Jadidah. 

The capture of Kobane would be a strategic triumph for the ISIS, which has declared an Islamic state spanning the borders of Syria and Iraq since it launched its Iraq offensive last month. The militants control two oilfields in Syria, as well as Girsespi, Jarablus and Raqqah. It desperately needs Kobane to connect the regions under its control and expand the self-declared Islamic state. 

The loss of Kobane would be a serious blow to the Kurds, who declared autonomy in three Rojava cantons last year and have succeeded in keeping at bay ISIS and other Islamist factions.

Kobane was the first city in Rojava to be freed from Syria’s 
Bashar al-Assad regime in 2012. Local officials expect ISIS to increase 
its attacks in the run-up to the second anniversary of Kurdish takeover 
of the city.

ISIS failed to capture the Kurdish city again, so far the Kurds are in controll of Kobane.