ISIS driven from the Syrian city of Kobané, jihadist group also losing ground in Iraq

[Surya Gayatri]

Source: France 24

After four months of violent clashes, Kurdish fighters have taken control of the Syrian city of Kobané, formerly in the hands of the organization of the Islamic State. Meanwhile, the jihadist group has lost several positions in Iraq.

After months of fighting, the organization of the Islamic State (ISIS) has been thrown out of the Syrian city of Kobané by Kurdish forces. The jihadist group recorded its biggest defeat in Syria, where they have controlled large territories for over a year. This failure comes the same day that a military official in Iraq announced that Diyala province, in the east of the country, has been liberated from the extremist fighters.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Kurds now "totally" control Kobané. This small town on the border with Turkey has become the symbol of resistance to ISIS since the Kurds launched a broad assault on September 16.


View of the Syrian city of Kobané.

The victory announced in Kobané (by Ain al-Arab, in Arabic) follows more than four months of violent struggle by the Kurdish forces with the support of daily air strikes by the international coalition.

Read more: http://www.france24.com/fr/20150126-ei-defaite-kobane-kurdes-syrie-irak-jihadistes-etat-islamique-coalition-etatsunis/

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Kobané and the surrounding area have been completely annihilated, but the ruins are now in the hands of the 'good guys'.

What a tragic train of events Bush & Cie put into motion back in 2003 with 'Operation Enduring Freedom'.

[GreatGazoo]

1. Some of this goes back to the borders for Iraq drawn by Brits in 1916

with little regard for the cultures and sects that lived there.



http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-25299553

As for ISIS, it is backed by Qatar and some Saudis who want to rally Sunnis against Shiites like Iran, and want to overthrow Assad so they can replace him with a Saudi-friendly Sunni fundamentalist government.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/14/america-s-allies-are-funding-isis.html

[Surya Gayatri]

2. Granted, since the arbitrary partitioning of the region post WWI

(and the creation of the Israeli state in 1948), the place has been tinder box waiting to explode.

In their ignorance and war-mongering greed, BUSH & Cie just added the spark.

[Xithras]

11. Most of the problems do come down to that.

If you look at the maps of the Ottoman vilayets (provinces), you'll quickly note that they divide the Middle East between a lot of the groups that are now fighting. The Ottomans spent centuries perfecting their internal borders so that each of the different factions could rule themselves peacefully and without outside interference. If the west had simply broken the Ottoman empire up along the old borders, the Middle East would be a far more peaceful place today.

[GreatGazoo]

12. Really interesting. Thanks for that.

[Xithras]

13. Yep. It's really interesting to note how so many of the modern countries were created by the west.

Iraq didn't exist at all. While the name Iraq has been around for a very long time, it referred to a region and not a particular people or ethnicity. It was somewhat akin to the way we use "New England" or "The Rust Belt". In ancient Arabic, it simply meant "fertile area". The British took the old name and built a country out of it because they didn't want to export oil through three different countries to reach the Gulf.

The Syria on that map barely corresponds to the Syria we know today. Much of the original Syria is now Jordanian, and the French chose to combine Damascus and a tiny piece of the old Syria with vast swaths of land to the east that they previously had no connection with. And Aleppo, once one of the second most powerful city and vilayet in the Ottoman Empire (second only to Constantinople), was carved in two, with half given to Syria and half to Turkey.

The current map of the middle east was created by Europeans for the benefit of Europe. It has little bearing on the cultures or peoples who actually live there.

[Hulk]

3. Please don't tell fox-nonsense and the neocon talking heads!

Those idiots want the nation to believe "Obama's foreign policy" has no coherent plan....that we aren't doing enough to fight the evil ISIS that is knocking on our door. They wouldn't be happier if the whole Middle East, minus bibi's Israel, fell into the hands of these butchering thugs who hide behind the name of Islam.

I realize this city was predominantly Kurdish, being in the north of Iraq, but perhaps the liberated areas of Iraq will now wake up and realize THEY have to be responsible for preventing this cancerous band of murdering thugs to ever gain a toe-hold in the world again. I'm always confused on the Shia/Sunni thing, as I can't remember which is which, but those who supported these thugs have gotten a first hand glimpse of just how satanic a group of criminals they have supported and have seen the innocents slaughtered in their own neighborhoods.

NO AMERICAN BOOTS ON THE GROUND!! Send over graham and mcGrumpy, and the rest of the band of cowardly chicken-hawks that want to send my sons and daughters over to be slaughtered for their chest-pounding fetish. Fuck them all...every last one of them. I'm not for isolationism, but I am also NOT for imperialism either.

[Surya Gayatri]

4. Why do you think I have to go to European news sources to find anything about this?

If the events risk reflecting in any way positively on Obama or his foreign policy, you will not find them reported in the American MSM.

[lamp_shade]

5. I pray this is true. I've been following #KOBANE for months. They've come so

close, so many times. Please let this be true. Thanks for posting.

[Surya Gayatri]

6. Apparently, being reported by 'disinterested third-parties'...

by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and by the Ain al-Arab news service, in Arabic.

[JonLP24]

7. ISIS or one of the affiliates in how it relates at-least in Iraq

won't be defeated without a political solution that works. CIA installing al-Maliki as Iraqi Prime Minister was clearly a mistake and ISIS with control with as much Iraqi territorial is a direct result from that mistake.

The largest US embassy is in Iraq so it appears we will be making mistakes for years to come and of course, unethical human trafficking is going down there which is par for the course for the US private defense industry -- http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS21867.pdf

Syria will likely be a mess for years no matter who "wins". You also have the Kurds over there to the east fighting for "Kurdistan".

[Surya Gayatri]

8. Once they've wrested their former towns and territories

from ISIS, I'd be very surprised if the Kurds will put down their arms and willingly go back to being dominated by oppressive regimes à la Assad in Syria, or Maliki in Iraq.

The Kurds are a force to be reckoned with. I see them demanding a 'homeland' carved out of present-day Iraq, Syria and even Turkey. They can, with some justification, claim to be a beleaguered minority, much like the Jews post WWII.

[JonLP24]

9. I agree

The Kurdish & Sunni civilians were allies in protest against the Maliki prime minister. The brutal Shia militias led to tolerating & fleeing (don't forget the massive refugees) so ISIS can provide a protection which led to self defense from Kurdish militias or the terms used to describe their military support for a long forgotten minority that stretch back to their early revolts against Turkey. Described well in the VICE episode "A Syria of their own"

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

10. Operation Enduring Fuckup

[quadrature]

14. how about.. Arab Spring 2.0 .... are there other countries

we should start on fire,
just for the heck of it?

[tabasco]

15. I really hope the Kurds come out of this deal with their own country

God knows they deserve it.

[TwilightGardener]

16. Good. Congratulations to the brave Kurds and to our aircrews who

helped make this happen.