American-led coalition forces launched airstrikes Saturday at Islamic State of Iraq and Syria fighters who were attacking Kurdish forces defending the Syrian town of Kobani.
The strikes destroyed two Islamic State tanks, according to a spokesman for Syria’s Kurdish Democratic Union Party, the Associated Press reported.
Islamic State forces have been advancing on Kobani in recent days.
“Today, [Islamic State fighters] have made advances on the western side of the town,” said Rami Abdelrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, according to Reuters.
More than 10,000 area residents have fled across the Turkish border to flee the Islamic State’s advances.
Kurdish fighters have been pouring into Syria to fight Islamic State advances against Kobani and other area villages.
“Kobani is facing the fiercest and most barbaric attack in its history,” Mohammed Saleh Muslim, the head of the Kurdish Democratic Union in Syria, said earlier in September.
Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham have criticized President Obama for not also targeting Syrian ruler Bashar Assad.
The U.S. is also struggling, however, with growing anger among Syrian rebels who feel American intervention helps the Assad regime.
“When they bomb the Nusra Front they are doing [Assad’s] regime a favor,” a Syrian activist told the Associated Press. “Until now the main side benefiting from the strikes is the regime.”
First published at 12:21 p.m.
