MOSCOW, October 5 (RIA Novosti) - Islamic State militants have occupied the southern part of Mashtat Nour mountain near Kobani, Xinhua reported Sunday.
According to the newspaper, the mountain is of strategic importance for the jihadist group to further extend its offensive on Kobani.
Kobani is city in Syria's Aleppo Governorate, which the Kurdish People's Protection Units took control of in 2012 as a result of the civil war in Syria.
It is reported by Xinhua that violent confrontation took place between the jihadists and Kurdish fighters before the mountain was partly taken by the IS militants.
Earlier, Idris Nassan, who acts as the foreign minister of Kobani, said that the airstrikes, initiated by the United States and supported by some other countries against the Islamic State (IS) are not enough. He stated that ground support should also be in place in the battle against the jihadist group.
The IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, the group extended its attacks to northern and western Iraq, declaring a caliphate on the territories over which it had control.
