ISIS has taken more parts of the Kurdish border town of Kobani (Ayn al-Arab in Arabic) in the last 24 hours, and is believed to be on the brink of taking the town outright.
Kurdish fighters have been struggling to slow the advance of ISIS against the town, and ISIS also seized over 350 villages in the surrounding area. Most of the population has fled into Turkey anticipating the loss.
The Pentagon has been launching large numbers of airstrikes against ISIS around Kobani, but with little effect, and officials concede they probably won’t actually stop the ISIS takeover.
For ISIS, the capture of Kobani is a strategic boon, as it gives them a long, contiguous border with Turkey in both the Raqqa and Aleppo Provinces. ISIS continues to expand its territory in Aleppo and Hasakeh Provinces, despite fierce resistance from the Kurds.
