Backed by US fighters carrying out airstrikes against known ISIS-held infrastructure and positions, soldiers of the Kurdish People's Protection Units pushed into parts of Kobani that the ISIS held since September and reclaimed them, FOX News reported.
Syrian activist Farhad Shami told FOX News that ISIS had been "fully expelled" from the town.
The US Central Command also said that it had authorised on Monday a total of 17 airstrike missions into ISIS positions in Kobani in just 24 hours. These strikes were intended to hit "Islamic State group infrastructure and fighting positions."
The victory ended the months-long siege of the town by the Islamic State, who captured parts of Kobani in September after a campaign that captured 300 villages near the town and effectively enveloped the town. The Islamic State captured nearly half of the town, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee to the border into Turkey.
Kobani is a key strategic position in the current conflict between ISIS and Syria. The town straddles the border with Turkey, and its capture would have opened the crossing to that country to the Islamic State's access. Capturing Kobani would have also provided ISIS with direct lines that would connect its positions along the Syria-Turkey border.
Because of its important location, the United States, beginning on September 23, centreed most of its airstrikes in the town in assistance of the local Kurdish fighters who resisted the Islamic State.
In addition to the US airstrikes and supply drops, analysts, together with Syrian and Kurdish activists, credited the Kurdish peshmerga fighters from Iraq as being instrumental to pushing Islamic State elements from the town and retaking their positions. The arrival of the peshmerga fighters also neutralised the Islamic State's advantage in artillery.
