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A concentration of fighters from the Islamic State (IS) around the town of Kobani along Syria' s border with Turkey has led to more airstrikes against the terrorist group, a Pentagon spokesman said on Thursday.
"With these airstrikes, we took advantage of the opportunity to hit ISIL as they attempt to mass their forces and combat power on the Kurdish-held positions," John Kirby said at a Pentagon news conference, using another name of the extremist group that proclaimed a caliphate in late June in areas it had seized in Syria and Iraq.
"What makes Kobani significant is the fact that ISIL wants it, and the more they want it, the more forces and resources they apply to it, the more targets are available for us to hit there," Kirby said.
The increase in airstrikes doesn't represent a strategic shift, at least from the military perspective, toward Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, or any other town, the spokesman said. Air power alone will not be sufficient to save any town, he added, and Kobani still could fall.
"Our military participation is from the air, and the air only, right now," Kirby said. "We've all been honest about the fact that air power alone is not going to be able to save any town in particular. I think we've been pretty consistent about the fact that we need to all be prepared for other towns and other cities to fall too."
The official said that several hundred IS fighters have been killed just in strikes in and around Kobani. "It would be irresponsible for us not to try to target them in a more aggressive way as they become more aggressive around Kobani itself, " Kirby said.
According to Kirby, a joint U.S. European Command and U.S. Central Command team has wrapped up meetings in Turkey concerning IS. "The discussions went very well, and they center around looking for other ways and other contributions that Turkey can commit to this," he added. Enditem
