Monday, October 6, 2014

ISIS set to capture Kobani, finish major land grab




ISIS fighters pounded the Syrian city of Kobani with tanks and heavy artillery Monday as the extremist group came closer to capturing the key city on the border with Turkey.
The fall of the city would carry huge symbolic and strategic weight, giving ISIS sway over an uninterrupted swatch of land between the Turkish border and its self-declared capital in Raqqa, Syria, 100 kilometers (62 miles) away.
Although the fight was not over, CNN crews on Monday spotted what appeared to be the black flag of ISIS flying from a hilltop on the eastern side of the city. The flag was farther east into the city from one shown flying atop a building in video from Reuters and also seen by the CNN crews.
The Turkish military, which has bulked up its defenses along the border in recent days as the fighting has flared, blocked people fleeing the fighting from crossing the border.
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"We want to go across!" would-be refugees chanted as they pressed against a border fence.
A civilian in Kobani, who can't be named because of security concerns, estimated that few civilians remain in the city -- maybe 100. They are prepared to die should ISIS take over, he said.
The city's defenders vowed to keep fighting.
"We are afraid of this. We are obliged to defend our home, our town," Kurdish Kobani official Idriss Nassan said. "We didn't choose this war, but we are obliged to fight."
Yet, members of the Kurdish People's Protection Unit, called YPG, and other groups defending the city couldn't move overnight because of ISIS snipers equipped with night vision equipment, a fighter inside the city told CNN



Source:CNN

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