WASHINGTON, October 16 (RIA Novosti) – The US military forces have conducted 14 new airstrikes targeting Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIL) militants near the Syrian city of Kobani, US Central Command (CENTCOM) reported Thursday.
"Initial reports indicate the strikes successfully struck 19 ISIL buildings, two ISIL command posts, three ISIL fighting positions, three ISIL sniper positions, one ISIL staging location, and one ISIL heavy machine gun," CENTCOM press release says.
According to CENTCOM, the US strikes were conducted as part of the operation to eliminate the IS and the threat the terrorist group poses to the region and the wider international community.
"The airstrikes have continued to slow ISIL advances," CENTCOM officials confirmed, adding that the "the security situation in Kobani remains tenuous."
For the past several weeks Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, one of the largest towns in the Kurdish region of Syria bordering Turkey, has been under attack of the IS militants.
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 against the government in Syria since 2012 and advanced into portions of northern Iraq in June 2014. The extremist group announced in June the establishment of an Islamic caliphate over its captured territories.
In September, US President Barack Obama announced the formation of an international coalition, which currently includes over 60 countries, to fight the IS. The coalition has been launching airstrikes against IS targets in Iraq and Syria.
