Weeks of continuous airstrikes and the airdrop of fresh supplies have helped Kurdish fighters maintain control over most of the Syrian border town of Kobani, though the situation remains tenuous, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said Tuesday.
“It’s still a very mixed, contested environment,” he said, but the constant pressure “has done a lot to keep [the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] from taking the town.”
Though Turkey has said it would allow Kurdish fighters from Iraq to cross its border to reinforce Kobani, Kirby said U.S. officials have not seen any indication that has happened.
The latest round of airstrikes came after U.S. aircraft late Sunday airdropped arms, ammunition and medical supplies to the town’s defenders. Of 28 bundles dropped, Kirby said at least one fell into an area controlled by the Islamic State and was hit in a strike designed to keep it from falling into enemy hands.
But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British organization, said Tuesday that another bundle also fell into territory controlled by the extremist group, and video surfaced of Islamic State fighters taking control of the supplies.
“We’re looking at the video. We’re doing our best to try to validate it,” Kirby said.
Airdropping is a common way to resupply forces in remote areas, or those that are surrounded by enemy troops, such as Kobani. Its accuracy can be affected by several factors, including wind, weather and whether the drop zone is secure.
Kirby noted that the airdrop was “the fastest, most efficient way to get supplies in” even though some of the bundles may have gone astray.
“Kurdish forces that are defending Kobani picked up the vast majority of the bundles,” he said.
