ISIS Suffers Losses in Kobani, Still Has City Surrounded

Turkish Border Access Means Casualties Not a Huge Blow to ISIS

The latest round of fighting between Kurdish fighters and ISIS over the key border town of Kobani in northern Syria has gone poorly for ISIS, with reports they lost at least 50 fighters in the past 24 hours.

Officials say ISIS’ latest pushes into the city have left the attacking fighters more vulnerable to US airstrikes as well as to shelling from Kurdish defenders. But is the death toll having an impact?

Not necessarily, and Syrian officials particularly warned that so long as ISIS continues to be able to access more fighters through Turkey, they can keep replacing casualties.

The latest reports suggest ISIS continues to have Kobani surrounded, which means that the Kurds are unlikely to be able to get reinforcements of their own, while ISIS continues to pump more and more fighters into the clash.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.