‘Hundreds’ of IS fighters killed in US airstrikes

The US military believes it has killed several hundred Islamic State fighters in air strikes in and around the Syrian town of Kobani, a Pentagon spokesman said this evening.

An increased number of air strikes around the embattled town by the US-led coalition in recent days can be partly attributed to an increase in militant activity in the area, but despite the strikes, the city could still fall to Islamic State fighters, Rear Admiral John Kirby said at a news briefing in Washington.

Meanwhile, retired US General John Allen, the US special envoy for building the coalition against Islamic State, told reporters the United States is bombing targets in Kobani to give defenders of the Syrian town time to organise against Islamic State militants.

“We are striking the targets around Kobani for humanitarian purposes. I’d be very reluctant to attempt to assign ... a term like ‘a strategic target,’ or ‘a strategic outcome’”.

“Clearly ... given the circumstances associated with the defense of that town, there was a need for additional fire support to go in to try to relieve the defenders and to buy some white space, ultimately, for the reorganization on the ground,” he added. “We have picked up the tempo and the intensity of the air strikes in order to provide that white space.”

A US-led coalition began bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq in August and extended the campaign to Syria in September in an effort to beat back the Sunni militant group, which has overrun an estimated one-third of Syrian and Iraqi territory.

Gen Allen, who is in charge of building the coalition against Islamic State, declined to be drawn on whether Turkey might allow coalition aircraft to use Incirlik Air Base for lethal strikes against the militant group.

He was not asked directly whether Syrian Kurds were giving the coalition targeting information for their strikes around Kobani, as Kurdish officials say, but he suggested the United States was open to getting information from anywhere.

“Obviously, information comes in from all different sources associated with providing local information or potentially targeting information. And we’ll take it all when it comes in. It’s ultimately evaluated for its value,” he said.

Reuters