WASHINGTON, October 15 (RIA Novosti) - US-led airstrikes over Iraq and Syria in the last 24 hours destroyed and damaged multiple Islamic State (IS) militant group’s fighting positions, including 16 structures in and around the besieged Syrian city of Kobani, US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed Wednesday.
A total of 23 strikes were aimed at armed vehicles, weapons and buildings in both Syria and Iraq, CENTCOM noted.
Eighteen airstrikes were launched against the IS forces in Kobani, while four airstrikes damaged IS artillery and vehicles near the Iraqi town of Bayji, CENTCOM confirmed. Another airstrike near the Haditha Dam, located in the Euphrates valley in western Iraq, struck an IS vehicle and an IS guard hangar.
For the past several weeks Kobani, one of the largest towns in the Kurdish region of Syria bordering Turkey, has been under attack of the IS militants.
The US-led airstrikes against Islamists in Syria, launched in September by US President Barack Obama’s order, have failed to stop the IS from advancing.
Local citizens, mostly Kurdish, are trying to protect the city using all possible means, while IS militants possess all kinds of weapons, including tanks and heavy artillery.
More than 400 people have died in clashes between the IS and Kurdish fighters in Kobani, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Some 200,000 refugees have crossed into Turkey to flee the IS threat.
The IS jihadist group, known for proclaiming hardline Islamic fundamentalism, has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In 2014, it seized vast areas across Iraq and Syria and proclaimed an Islamic caliphate on the territories that have fallen under its control, forcing thousands members of religious minorities to flee. More than 30,000 militants are believed to be fighting for the IS.
