Islamic State militants and Syrian Kurdish fighters were battling on the streets of Kobani on October 7, a day after the Sunni-led extremist movement seized strategic positions on the eastern edge of the border city.
IS militants advanced to the southern and western edges of the Syrian Kurdish city, seizing several buildings and effectively capturing the outskirts on three sides of Kobani, which is bordered on the north by Turkey.
Across the border, correspondents report that Turkish military forces were preventing Kobani’s Kurdish residents from fleeing into southeastern Turkey.
Witnesses say fighter jets from the U.S.-led international coalition could be heard flying over Kobani for several hours overnight, launching air strikes shortly before dawn on the eastern and southeastern edges of the town.
But Syrian Kurdish fighters said the air strikes did not set back the militants’ offensive.