MESOP NEW : Kurdish fighters seize new areas northeastern Syria

ARA News – Suruc, Turkey –      16 Nov 2014 – “Considerable victories were achieved by the Kurdish forces inside and outside the embattled city of Kobane, where large numbers of the Islamic State’s (IS/ISIS) terrorists were killed during clashes with the defending forces of Kobane in the past 24 hours,” Kurdish military sources reported.

Speaking to ARA News on the phone, Bahaa Suleiman, a Kurdish fighter in the ranks of the People’s Protection Units’ (YPG) , reported that the situation on the ground has dramatically improved in favor of the Kurds and that a new group of YPG fighters reached the southern side of the “strategic” hill of Mishtanoor in the countryside of Kobane. “Our forces made a significant progress in the southern and eastern fighting fronts of Kobane,” Suleiman said. “Subsequent to cutting the main supply route of the IS radical group, and the painful blows the group received from the Peshmerga’s heavy weapons, the city will be freed soon,” Suleiman told ARA News on Saturday evening. On the other hand, the YPG’s Media Center released a statement saying that their fighters along with the Woman Protection Units (YPJ) and Iraqi Kurdistan’s Peshmerga forces “repelled the the terrorists” (IS militants) from the entire city of Kobane. “The defending forces launched counter-attacks against the extremist group inside the city and its countryside, causing the death of dozens of IS terrorists and damaging their military vehicles,” YPG’s MC reported on Saturday. “On the eastern front, the clashes between our units and the IS radicals continues, especially in al-Baladiya district and in the vicinity of Azadi Square, delivering the group a painful blow,” the statement added.

On Thursday, the YPG-held village of Halanj (southeast of Kobane) was exposed to attacks by militants of IS, resulting in clashes between both sides. “Halanj’s clashes claimed lives of thirteen IS militants,” the Media Center of YPG forces in Kobane said. “In the vicinity of al-Izaa and the village of Tel Minaz, our units were able to kill eight IS militants and destroy two military vehicles held by the group, seizing weapons and ammunition,” the YPG statement said, adding “during the last 24 hours, four of our fighters joined the convoy of martyrs after heroic resistance”.  Observers are surprised at the continued fighting in Kobane, this small city, where neither side is winning militarily, despite the huge size of the forces, weapons, and support received by both. Reporting by: Jan Ali –  Source: ARA News