IS shells Kobani outskirt, kills three
KOBANI, Syrian Kurdistan (Kurdistan24) – On Monday night, Islamic State (IS) insurgents shelled the surrounding areas of Syria’s northern Kurdish town of Kobani on the Turkish border, claiming the lives of three civilians and injuring four others.
A Kurdistan24 correspondent in Kobani said that IS extremists hit the village of Tal Abar on the eastern side of the Euphrates near Qerekozak Bridge with mortar shells and homemade missiles.
According to the Kurdistan24 correspondent, three Arab civilians lost their lives, and four others were injured and transferred to Amal Hospital in Kobani.
An official in Amal Hospital told Kurdistan24 that most of the victims killed were women and children. The official also mentioned that the injured are being transferred to Qamishlo hospitals on Tuesday as they were severely wounded.
Military sources in the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) told Kurdistan24 that IS extremists who are based on the western banks of the Euphrates intensified their attacks to the west of Kobani.
The attacks came after the US-backed and YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) liberated Tishrin Dam and crossed the Euphrates.
The SDF has already repelled several IS attacks on Tal Abar; the last one was in January.
A few months ago, Idris Nassan, a Syrian Kurdish political analyst and a former Foreign Affairs Minister of Kobani district in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) sat down for an interview with Kurdistan24.
Nassan explained that the former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, along with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, harbored the fear that any movement west of the Euphrates might allow the Kurds to link their self-declared cantons, or territories, in northern Syria and create an autonomous Kurdish state along the Turkish border.
The SDF, founded in October 2015, liberated several IS strongholds in north and northeast Syria: Al-Hawl south of Hasakah in November 2015, 50 villages in the south of Kobani and Tishrin Dam on Dec. 26, 2015.
On Feb. 10, SDF announced the control of Mengh and its military airport, north of Aleppo, Syria.
On Feb. 16, SDF launched a three-day military campaign termed “Wrath of Khabour” culminating in the SDF leadership announcing al-Shaddadi's liberation on Feb. 19.
Although the media presents the SDF as an inclusive force, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) is the primary element of the coalition and outnumbers all other groups.
Reporting by Hisham Arafat
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany and Ava Homa