Late on Friday (31/10/14) evening Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga entered the
city of Kobane/Ayn al-Arab equipped with medium and heavy weapons along
with other supplies. Their mission was to link up with the Kurdish
Peoples Protection Units (YPG) who have been defending this
strategically important city from the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL) for the past 7 weeks.
This newly bolstered YPG force quickly made its presence felt launching
an attack against ISIL positions in the north-east of the city on
Saturday (1/11/14) evening. This attack was successful with several ISIL
positions being over-run, weapons and ammunition being captured and 14
ISIL fighters being killed. Sadly ISIL didn't take this lying down and
on Sunday (2/11/14) launched a counter-offensive in a effort to recover
the territory they had lost the previous day. After almost a day of
intense fighting ISIL were eventually beaten back allowing the YPG to
secure their gains whilst killing 15 ISIL fighters including 3 senior
commanders who are known as Emirs.
Despite reports that a group of ISIL fighters in their stronghold of
Raqqa - some 140km (84 miles) to the south-east of Kobane - were
executed for mutiny after being told they were being sent to Kobane it
seems clear that ISIL still intends to fight for Kobane. On Saturday
they launched a fresh attempt to seize the eastern governance district
from the YPG. However after a night of heavy fighting the YPG were able
to resist this fresh assault killing 14 ISIL fighters in the process.
ISIL's main focus in Kobane though has been a massive attack focused on
the south of the city. This offensive began on Saturday evening and
heavy fighting raged until Sunday afternoon. During this time 31 ISIL
fighters were killed including 5 who were in an armoured vehicle that
the YPG ambushed and destroyed. The fighting in the southern section
also saw 2 members of the YPG being killed - the Kurds only fatalities
of the weekend.
In even better news for Kobane's Kurdish defenders there have today been
reports - unconfirmed at this stage - that the logistics unit that
brought the Peshmerga to Suruc in Turkey on Thursday (30/10/14) have
since returned to Arbil in Iraq where they have simply loaded up their
trucks again and are heading back to Suruc. Hopefully Turkey will not
only give permission for but also actively support this fresh convoy
because if Kobane is to be defended then supply convoys between Arbil
and Kobane need to become a regular occurrence until ISIL have been
defeated.
Away from Kobane the US-led coalition's strategy in Syria suffered
another major set-back today when fighters from the Al-Qaeda affiliate
Al Nusra Front (ANF) seized Bab al-Hawa from the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
A major border crossing with Turkey Bab al-Hawa is around 45km (27
miles) west of Aleppo city and around 50km (30 miles) to the north of
Jabal al-Zawiya which ANF seized from the FSA on Saturday. However I am
less concerned with ANF taking over Bab al-Hawa then ISIL potentially
taking over Kobane for a host of reasons. The main one of these is that
Turkey seems far closer to ISIL then it is to ANF meaning that it is
less likely to assist them in their smuggling operations. Also being a
far less brutal group than ISIL ANF went through a very deep split with
ISIL and have actively fought them in the past. As such while I wouldn't
advise that the coalition allies itself with ANF provided ANF continue
to fight ISIL I'm not sure their destruction should be considered a
priority.
The real damage to the US-led coalition's strategy that was done at Bab
al-Hawa was that the FSA faction that was defending it was Harakat Hazm.
As with the Syrian Revolutionaries Front (SRF) at Jabal al-Zawiya
Harakat Hazm were one of the FSA factions that the US has been training
and equipping with advanced weapons after what we were assured was
careful vetting and monitoring. As with the SRF at Jabal al-Zawiya it
appears that Harakat Hazm have also now defected to ANF taking their
advanced weapons including MILAN-type TOW anti-tank missiles and
possibly Stinger-type anti-aircraft missiles with them.
If that wasn't problem enough for the coalition then today ISIL
succeeded in seizing the Jahar gas field in central Idlib province from
Syrian government forces. This adds to the Shaer gas field that ISIL
captured on Thursday. ISIL now control so many oil and natural gas
fields across Iraq and Syria that they have begun to advertise for
qualified professionals to help them run them. As US President Obama's
strategy - if you can call it that - to defeat ISIL seems centred
entirely of cutting of their sources of finance from oil and gas the
fact that ISIL are increasing the amount of oil and gas under their
control is utterly humiliating.
(Originally Posted) 19:25 on 3/11/14 (UK date).
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