About 1,600 Dead in Syria’s Kobani as Islamic State Loses Ground

At one point during the fighting, Islamic State controlled more than half the town, Rami Abdurrahman, SOHR’s chief, said by phone. The Kurdish resistance are now better armed and have been bolstered by U.S.-led airstrikes on militant positions. The Kurds now have control over 80 percent of Kobani, he said.

The city’s fall would’ve extended Islamic State’s grip on territory along Syria’s border with NATO-member Turkey and delivered a blow to Kurdish autonomy in the region.

The Syrian Kurds took advantage of the power vacuum created by the country’s civil conflict, which began in March 2011, to declare self-rule in November 2013.

 

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2015-01-16/about-1-600-dead-in-syria-s-kobani-as-islamic-state-loses-ground