ISIS Admits Kobani Defeat, Declares Loss Doesn't Weaken Them | World Defense

ISIS Admits Kobani Defeat, Declares Loss Doesn't Weaken Them

Redheart

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ISIS fighters admit defeat in Syrian town of Kobani | Fox News

The Islamic State group has acknowledged for the first time that its fighters have been defeated in the Syrian town of Kobani and vowed to attack the town again.

In a video released by the pro-ISIS Aamaq News Agency late Friday, two fighters said the airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition were the main reason why ISIS fighters were forced to withdraw from Kobani. One fighter vowed to defeat the main Kurdish militia in Syria, the People's Protection Units known as the YPG.

On Monday, activists and Kurdish officials said the town was almost cleared of IS fighters, who once held nearly half of Kobani.

An Associated Press video from inside the town showed widespread destruction, streets littered with debris and abandoned neighborhoods. The video also showed a new cemetery with fresh graves.

The town's famous Freedom Square, with a statue of an eagle spreading its wings, stood intact in the middle of the destruction. The square is near the so-called Kurdish security quarter -- an eastern district where Kurdish militiamen maintained security buildings and offices, and which was occupied by ISIS fighters for about two months until they were forced out earlier in January.

In the newly released ISIS video, the militant fighters acknowledged that they have been driven from the town.

"A while ago we retreated a bit from Ayn al-Islam because of the bombardment and the killing of some brothers," said one masked fighter, using the group's preferred name for Kobani. He spoke Arabic with a north African accent.

The failure to capture and hold Kobani was a major blow to the extremists. Their hopes for an easy victory dissolved into a costly siege under withering airstrikes by coalition forces and an assault by Kurdish militiamen.

The United States and several Arab allies have been striking ISIS positions in Syria since Sept. 23. The campaign aims to push back the jihadi organization after it took over about a third of Iraq and Syria and declared the captured territory a new caliphate.

Now Kurdish officials are hailing the retaking of Kobani as an important step toward rolling back the Islamic State group's territorial gains.

"Kobani Canton is a representative of the resistance against terrorism in the world," said senior Syrian Kurdish official in Kobani, Anwar Muslim. "We hope that the world will support us to come through our struggle against IS."

Meanwhile the IS fighters vowed that their defeat in Kobani will not weaken them.

"The Islamic State will stay. Say that to Obama," said the fighter, pointing his finger toward destruction on the edge of Kobani.

The fighters both laid blame for their defeat on the coalition air campaign, seemingly downplaying the role played by Kurdish militiamen -- whom they refer to as "rats."

Another IS fighter, also speaking in Arabic, said while standing on a road with a green sign with "Ayn al-Islam" sprayed on it: "The warplanes did not leave any construction. They destroyed everything, so we had to withdraw and the rats advanced."

"The warplanes were bombarding us night and day. They bombarded everything, even motorcycles," the fighter said.

ISIS launched an offensive on the Kobani region in mid-September capturing more than 300 Kurdish villages and parts of the town. As a result of the airstrikes and stiff Kurdish resistance, IS began retreating a few weeks ago, losing more than 1,000 fighters, according to activists.

More than 200,000 Kurds were forced from their homes. Many fled to neighboring Turkey.

Earlier this week, Kurdish officials said YPG fighters have launched a counterattack to retake some of the surrounding villages around Kobani, many of which remain in IS hands.
 

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That's all the have, courage. Go ahead and let them believe their distorted view of their reality and let them keep believing that their actions are not futile, despite the fact that it's at all fruitless, but violent and many lives are being taken away just because of their oblique view of the reality. I really hate ISIS. I strongly wish that they'd get punished on what they are doing.
 

vegito12

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The ISIS is not worried about the sacrifices and will do more, and are like a wounded lion so the Kurdish people need to be careful as a wounded lion can cause more pain as it will kill or die kind of like the ISIS. They will attack until they win or die and getting cocky and also arrogrant and as I see they have not learnt their lesson and will battle to the death even taking on USA at the same time. I think they are making mistakes now, and sooner or later will be down to few people and if they are captured will be tortured and given death sentence like they have been doing.
 

Rowe992

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These terrorists are like some little insects that just pop up all over the place even when you think you have gotten rid of them. Pressure must be applied to the heads of this group and also to stop their source of income and weapons. The root needs to be killed and not the branches.
 

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That's one of the problems, when your fighting an organization such as IS, it isn't going to matter how many of them you kill, there always seems to be more and more, ready to sign up and die for their cause.

If we're not careful, this is going to turn into a war that will never end, at the moment it seems we're just putting out fires, and not actually tackling the root of the problem.
 

Redheart

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If we're not careful, this is going to turn into a war that will never end, at the moment it seems we're just putting out fires, and not actually tackling the root of the problem.
I think the "US-led coalition" isn't doing enough to stop ISIS. They are waiting and waiting for Assad to fall first. As long as he's the Syrian president then no one is going to help him drive out the terrorists from Syria.

Since the West is only making half-hearted attempts to fight ISIS, I believe that only an Arab coalition will defeat the terrorists.
 

pwarbi

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I think that's exactly why the western is holding back. They're waiting for this middle east coalition to actual form, stand up and fight back against ISIS. The problem with that is that IS have embedded themselves firmly into a lot of the local people's lives, they're regarded as freedom fighters and hero's by the local communities they've took refuge in.

Whoever takes ISIS on, will have more than the actual fighters to worry about.
 
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