MESOP : YPG UNITED WITH PESHMERGA & FSA – Kurdish forces to reach Jarablus after defeating ISIS in Kobane
ARA News – 11 Feb 2015 – Suruc, Turkey – Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), in cooperation with the Peshmerga forces and rebels of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), were able to regain more areas in western Kobane (Ain al-Arab) in the province of Aleppo, northern Syria, military sources reported on Tuesday.
The newly regained areas are only 3 km from the city of Jarablus, a Syrian border city controlled by the Islamic State group (IS/ISIS) for more than one year. Speaking to ARA News on the phone, Saeed Judi, a fighter in the YPG ranks, said that the Kurdish fighters took control of the village of Khirbet Atto (administratively linked to the town of Shuyookh) near Jarablus.“Thus the city of Jarablus is about 3 km away, and now the intire city, which is one of the most strategic strongholds of the radical group, is under the crossfire of the Peshmerga and the YPG military units,” he said.
Judi also reported that the YPG fighters were able to enter the town of Jalabiya, in the southeastern countryside of Kobane, where fierce clashes continue in the vicinity of the French Cement palnt, adding that more than 80% of Kobane’s countryside has come under the control of the defending forces of Kobane. On the other hand, high ranking leaders of the YPG asked for extending the mission of the Peshmerga forces in Kobane, where a base for these forces will be built on the outskirts of the city to be a launching pad for military operations against the hardline group of the Islamic State, a Kurdish military source told ARA News. “However, the decision of the Peshmerga’s remaining in Kobane is up to the approval of President Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq,” the source added. Subsequent to the remarkable advancement made by the joint forces defending Kobane and the attacks on IS headquarters in Manbij and Jarabalus, the IS group declared a state of alert in the remaining villages under its control in the countryside of Kobane, calling for more reinforcements there.Reporting by: Mohammed Ali Ahmed – Source: ARA News