ISIL Suffers Big Losses in Kobani
MURSITPINAR, Turkey (Dispatches) -- The ISIL group was taking heavy losses in the Syrian battleground of Kobani Sunday as Iraqi forces fought the extremists.
U.S.-led warplanes launched 11 airstrikes near Kobani on Saturday and Sunday, U.S. Central Command said, helping the town's Kurdish defenders to repulse a new attempt to cut their supply lines into Turkey.
The Kurdish fighters, who have been under ISIL assault for more than a month, weathered fierce street fighting and at least two suicide bombings but the front line remained unchanged on Sunday, a Kurdish official said.
"(ISIL) brought in reinforcements... and attacked hard," Idris Nassen told AFP by telephone. "But thanks to airstrikes and (the Kurdish fighters') response, they did not make any progress."
The ISIL militants suffered heavy losses in Kobani, which has become a key prize as it is being fought under the gaze of the world's press massed just over the border in Turkey.
From Saturday into Sunday morning, a total of 31 militants died in the battle, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Coalition airstrikes near Kobani hit 20 ISIL fighting positions, five ISIL vehicles and two ISIL-held buildings, said Central Command, with the Observatory adding that they killed 15 militants.
Clashes on the ground killed another 16 militants and seven Kurdish fighters, said the Britain-based Observatory, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria.
A steady flow of bodies from the Kobani fighting have arrived at an ISIL-controlled hospital further east, the Observatory said.
The corpses of at least 70 militants had been brought into the mortuary in the town of Tal Abyad in the past four days.
The U.S. military has said it sees "encouraging" signs in the battle for Kobani, although it warns the town may still fall.
On Sunday the White House said President Barack Obama called his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and that they pledged to "strengthen cooperation" against ISIL in Syria.
Erdogan was quoted as saying Turkey wouldn't agree to any U.S. arms transfers to Kurdish fighters as the extremist group fired more mortar rounds near the Syrian-Turkish border.
Turkey views the main Syrian Kurdish group, the PYD — and its military wing which is fighting ISIL militants — as an extension of the PKK, which has waged a 30-year insurgency in Turkey and is designated a terror group by the U.S. and NATO.
Washington has said recently that it has engaged in intelligence sharing with Kurdish fighters and officials have not ruled out future arms transfers to the Kurdish fighters.
"The PYD is for us, equal to the PKK. It is a terror organization," Erdogan told a group of reporters on his return from a visit to Afghanistan.
"It would be wrong for the United States — with whom we are friends and allies in NATO — to talk openly and to expect us to say 'yes' to such a support to a terrorist organization," Erdogan said. His comments were reported by the state-run Anadolu agency on Sunday.
Turkey has demanded that the coalition widen its campaign against the militants by providing greater aid to rebels in Syria, who are battling President Bashar Assad's forces. Turkey has recently agreed to train and equip militants trying to remove Assad from power.
Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi's office announced that he is to head to Tehran on Monday to discuss the fightback with his key ally.
Washington has acknowledged that Tehran has an important role to play in the battle against ISIL, although the main regional power has shunned the coalition the U.S. has forged purportedly against the extremists.
Abadi's talks in Iran are part of his bid "to unite the efforts of the region and the world to help Iraq in its war against the terrorist group", his office said.
Although it has not been part of the U.S.-led coalition, Tehran has been a key backer of Abadi's government in its efforts to hold back the militants advance.
Iranian forces played a role in the Turkmen town of Amerli, where security forces and allied militiamen broke a months-long ISIL siege at the end of August.
U.S.-led warplanes launched 11 airstrikes near Kobani on Saturday and Sunday, U.S. Central Command said, helping the town's Kurdish defenders to repulse a new attempt to cut their supply lines into Turkey.
The Kurdish fighters, who have been under ISIL assault for more than a month, weathered fierce street fighting and at least two suicide bombings but the front line remained unchanged on Sunday, a Kurdish official said.
"(ISIL) brought in reinforcements... and attacked hard," Idris Nassen told AFP by telephone. "But thanks to airstrikes and (the Kurdish fighters') response, they did not make any progress."
The ISIL militants suffered heavy losses in Kobani, which has become a key prize as it is being fought under the gaze of the world's press massed just over the border in Turkey.
From Saturday into Sunday morning, a total of 31 militants died in the battle, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Coalition airstrikes near Kobani hit 20 ISIL fighting positions, five ISIL vehicles and two ISIL-held buildings, said Central Command, with the Observatory adding that they killed 15 militants.
Clashes on the ground killed another 16 militants and seven Kurdish fighters, said the Britain-based Observatory, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria.
A steady flow of bodies from the Kobani fighting have arrived at an ISIL-controlled hospital further east, the Observatory said.
The corpses of at least 70 militants had been brought into the mortuary in the town of Tal Abyad in the past four days.
The U.S. military has said it sees "encouraging" signs in the battle for Kobani, although it warns the town may still fall.
On Sunday the White House said President Barack Obama called his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and that they pledged to "strengthen cooperation" against ISIL in Syria.
Erdogan was quoted as saying Turkey wouldn't agree to any U.S. arms transfers to Kurdish fighters as the extremist group fired more mortar rounds near the Syrian-Turkish border.
Turkey views the main Syrian Kurdish group, the PYD — and its military wing which is fighting ISIL militants — as an extension of the PKK, which has waged a 30-year insurgency in Turkey and is designated a terror group by the U.S. and NATO.
Washington has said recently that it has engaged in intelligence sharing with Kurdish fighters and officials have not ruled out future arms transfers to the Kurdish fighters.
"The PYD is for us, equal to the PKK. It is a terror organization," Erdogan told a group of reporters on his return from a visit to Afghanistan.
"It would be wrong for the United States — with whom we are friends and allies in NATO — to talk openly and to expect us to say 'yes' to such a support to a terrorist organization," Erdogan said. His comments were reported by the state-run Anadolu agency on Sunday.
Turkey has demanded that the coalition widen its campaign against the militants by providing greater aid to rebels in Syria, who are battling President Bashar Assad's forces. Turkey has recently agreed to train and equip militants trying to remove Assad from power.
Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi's office announced that he is to head to Tehran on Monday to discuss the fightback with his key ally.
Washington has acknowledged that Tehran has an important role to play in the battle against ISIL, although the main regional power has shunned the coalition the U.S. has forged purportedly against the extremists.
Abadi's talks in Iran are part of his bid "to unite the efforts of the region and the world to help Iraq in its war against the terrorist group", his office said.
Although it has not been part of the U.S.-led coalition, Tehran has been a key backer of Abadi's government in its efforts to hold back the militants advance.
Iranian forces played a role in the Turkmen town of Amerli, where security forces and allied militiamen broke a months-long ISIL siege at the end of August.