Air strikes 'stall IS Syria advance'

[webfact]

Kobane: Air strikes 'stall IS advance' on Syrian border town

(BBC) US-led forces have continued air strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants near the besieged Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobane.

A senior local official said IS had been pushed back towards the edge of the town as a result of the strikes and advances by the town's defenders.

Earlier reports said the militants had controlled almost a third of Kobane, on the Turkish-Syrian border.

Turkey has ruled out a ground operation on its own against IS in Syria.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu renewed calls for the creation of a no-fly zone along the Syrian side of the border during talks in Ankara with new Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg.

Turkey - a Nato member - also wants co-ordinated action against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29555999


-- BBC 2014-10-10

[Daniel Boon]

funny ... Australian Air Force pilots refused to drop their bombs for fear of killing citizens including women and children ... and this report suggests IS / ISIL are at the edge of town ... so which report is true ... Aussie Pilots or Americans

[simple1]

funny ... Australian Air Force pilots refused to drop their bombs for fear of killing citizens including women and children ... and this report suggests IS / ISIL are at the edge of town ... so which report is true ... Aussie Pilots or Americans

For the moment Australian government has refused to authorise miltary action in Syria, will not provide info on location of targets attacked in Iraq, nor video of air strikes.

Air strikes on or near Kobane have been reportedly carried out by US and Arab coalition aircraft

[coma]

Well at least the Turks seem to have the idea. Evacuate civilians, seal off the battlefield and then let the terrorists kill each other. Maybe they could do some ammo drops for the two warring sides so they can get on with it quicker.

[kutjebu]

Well at least the Turks seem to have the idea. Evacuate civilians, seal off the battlefield and then let the terrorists kill each other. Maybe they could do some ammo drops for the two warring sides so they can get on with it quicker.

How do they call you......general Singh beer?

[tango]

^ Coma has a point as do the Turks. Air 'power' is being used sparingly. The Aussies are pussy-footing around, and the UK female pilot two weeks ago spent all day jet-tripping to final destroy a lone 'jeep'. A complete waste.

Everyone rightly decries having to put boots on the ground but so-called air power so far is forcing that hand. Who then to blame as we bring back mortally wounded and dead western foot soldiers.

Service the target array! or get out of the skies and return home.

[bdenner]

funny ... Australian Air Force pilots refused to drop their bombs for fear of killing citizens including women and children ... and this report suggests IS / ISIL are at the edge of town ... so which report is true ... Aussie Pilots or Americans

Aussie Pilots aren't allowed to drop their bombs. 6 of em make up our yearly defense budget!

[pkspeaker]

The better option is to just end the airstrikes and 'let' the IS take the Sunni parts of Iraq (including western Baghdad) and the riverbank towns in Syria..then they can just fight it out with shiite militia's in Iraq and Assad's regime in Syria. If they keep fighting to a stalemate they can eventually have ceasefire lines as that always happens in civil wars.. I see no reason why these Shiite led regimes should forcefully occupy Sunni areas. AND the western government's should stop giving weapons to islamic militants.. the gulf states and Turkey are the ones giving them(sunni islamic militants) arms and there is no way to stop them from ding that but the US should WARN them against giving them shoulder launched SAM's and sophisticated anti-tank weapons .. These weapons can be used in terrorism.. I just saw a video of IS in Iraq using a guided missile to to destroy a US made and provided tank in western Iraq.. They definitely got those from the weapons being provided to the Syrian rebels by the US and it's allies because they didn't have those when the US military was there.

Under the old system there was a balance of power; prior to the US overthrow of the Saddam Hussain secular baathest regime, Iraq was a majority Shiite country with a Sunni president and with Sunni hands on the levers of power.. The regime tried to be inclusive to minorities and shiites by throwing them bones here and there.. IE there were shiites in Saddam's cabinet and in some key military positions.

Syria was the opposite, majority Sunni but Assad's secular baathest regime was Shiite(alawite) led. He keeps Sunni's in some key positions ie most of Syria's airforce pilots are Sunni's.

Once the Saddam regime was overthrown, the US started presuring Assad to not let his riverbank Sunni people help the Sunni's that were fighting the american occupation (or else!) He allowed himself to be intimidated and the Sunni's turned on him, labling him a western stooge like the government in Iraq..

So now the model is broken and both shiite regimes have lost the Sunni's, they don't have the manpower and the will to pacify these Sunni area's and another american invasion to do the job is out of the question especially since this time they would have to battle double the Sunni's and clash with the Assad regime and Hezbollah..forget it.. the place is broke and it's time to let it go like they did in Vietnam in 1973.

[Matej]

Temporary success of air-raids(Cobane) is not changing anything about fact, confirmed by news from the last few weeks, that destroying ISIL by bombing is an illusion. There is constant progress of IS despite the air-raids(since August, now is October). IS can can be defeated only by ground forces. The question is who will do that? The Kurds? The Iraqi Army? What about Turkey, what will happen if Jihadists cross the border?

Edited October 10, 2014 by Matej