News / Syria

Kurds battle ISIL near Kobani, capture village

Saturday, 31 January 2015 3:05 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 31 January 2015 4:38 PM ]

A Kurdish fighter mans a position during fighting against ISIL in Kobani, northern Syria, November 7, 2014. (© AFP)

Kurdish fighters have managed to liberate a village from ISIL Takfiri terrorists on the outskirts of Syria’s northern town of Kobani.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday that Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units (YPG) captured the village as they battled to increase their control in the area.

The Kurdish forces are currently in control of 17 of the hundreds of villages that had fallen into the hands of ISIL in the Kobani area. Some of the villages have no more than a few houses.

Most of the villages have been recaptured since Kurdish fighters seized the strategic town on the border with Turkey on January 26, after more than 100 days of fierce fighting with ISIL.

The ISIL terrorists, however, are still scattered throughout the countryside around Kobani’s southeast and southwest.

In a Friday statement, the YPG announced that it liberated “several regions” in the west of the town, adding that it captured several military vehicles, as well as arms and ammunition from ISIL.

The loss of the border town is viewed as a major blow to the Takfiri terrorists, who started advancing on the town on September 16, 2014, in order to strengthen control over a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.

The battle for Kobani has claimed the lives of more than 1,600 people, most of them from ISIL.

Some 200,000 people escaped to Turkey from Kobani and the adjacent villages due to the clashes over the past few months and now most of them cannot return because of the scope of destruction.

MR/HSN/SS

Related Stories

Kurds wrest control of Kobani from ISIL Mon Jan 26, 2015

Kurds continue mop-up near Kobani Tue Jan 27, 2015

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk