Kurds Push Back against Surprise IS Attack at Kobane

On June 25, fighters from the Islamic State (IS) launched a morning surprise attack on the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane. Five cars, with approximately 30 fighters, drove through the town’s defenses, carried out a suicide bombing, and then began killing civilians. The assailants wore stolen uniforms of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which controls the town. After fighting all day, most of the IS fighters were killed, captured, or surrounded by YPG forces.

Kobane is on the border between Syria and Turkey, and Turkish officials said that they admitted 63 civilians from Kobane into Turkish hospitals.

At the same time as the attack on Kobane, IS fighters and militias that once supported Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, launched another attack on Hasakah, a city in the northeast. They took control of western districts and pushed the Syrian army into the center of the city. The Kurds are not involved in the fight for Hasakah.

Earlier this week, YPG forces successfully recaptured areas taken by IS, including the IS military base known as “Brigade 93.” Brigade 93 was IS’s first line of defense to the north of Raqqa, the capital of the IS declared caliphate. Following the capture of the base, the YPG and its allies amongst Syrian rebel groups took control of the town of Ayn Issa.

Kurdish forces have fought in recent months with IS over the control of Kobane, and the town is significant because the YPG seized it from IS in January. The Kurds’ ability to defend the city is more than just a military victory: at a time when IS is suffering at the hands of the Kurds, its inability to effectively recapture land is also incredibly demoralizing to its fighters.

Kobane is along the Syrian border, leading Kurdish activists to accuse Turkey of helping IS. Turkey has denied the accusations and produced CCTV footage that shows the first suicide bomber entered the town from the Syrian side. Though investigations into the origins of the attacking convoy are under way, this is not the first time that Turkey has been blamed for helping IS by turning a blind eye to its activities in Turkey or allowing it to stage attacks from within its borders.

As the Center for Security Policy has previously stated, the Kurds have been integral to the fight against IS. The Senate recently rejected Amendment 1549, which would have directly armed Kurdish forces, but they have emerged as the key to the fight. Rather than trying to form a new, effective strategy for combatting IS, the US should support the Kurds, who already have a plan of action.