Battle for Kobani Enters Second Month | WPN World People News

Kurdish forces have begun a second month of defending the northern Syrian border city of Kobani from Islamic State militants, working increasingly with a U.S.-led coalition to push back the ultra-radical group.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports more than 660 fighters have been killed since the IS offensive began in the area along the Turkish frontier on September 16. The rights monitor noted the overall death toll could be twice that estimate because of what it called "extreme secrecy" about casualties from both sides.

U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State increased in Kobani this week as the United States acknowledged it held its first direct talks with a Syrian Kurdish political party linked to Kurdish guerrillas that U.S. and Turkey call terrorists.

A State Department spokeswoman said a top U.S. official met with the Kurdish Democratic Union Party in Paris on Saturday, but pointed out that the meeting does not represent U.S. coordination with the group against Islamic State fighters.

The party is tied to the PKK, a Kurdish separatist group that has carried out numerous attacks inside Turkey while fighting for an independent Kurdistan in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Psaki said the U.S. is fully aware of the connection between the Kurds in Syria and the PKK, which Washington still regards as a terrorist group.

But Polat Can, spokesman for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), told VOA earlier this week that the Kurdish militia had a “direct relationship” with the U.S. coalition and is providing coordinates for air strikes in Kobani, known also as Ayn al-Arab.

The U.S. Defense Department said bombings have killed "several hundred" Islamic State fighters in the city.

Source: Voice of America