Why is the battle for Kobane so important?
Kurdish fighters say they once again took control of Kobane, two days after the Islamic State militants entered the Syrian border town.
Redu Xeil, spokesman for the Kurdish forces known as the People鈥檚 Protection Units, or YPG, that聽Kurdish forces are still searching the聽neighborhoods聽for possible militants hiding in town.聽Smoke聽could still be seen rising over Kobane,聽听厂补迟耻谤诲补测.
On Thursday, Islamic State militants entered Kobane and according to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organization that tracks the war, carried out the 鈥溾�� of civilians since it declared a caliphate聽.
The border town Kobane, also known as Ayn al-Arab, has been a battleground between the Islamic State militants and Kurdish fighters since last year.
For the Kurds, the defense of Kobane symbolizes Kurdish resistance to ISIS.
鈥淭he city has gained strategic importance now, partly because it is the first Syrian town to stand against ISIL for such a long time. Other Syrian towns and cities fell into ISIL hands without any resistance,鈥� Sirwan Kajjo, a Syrian-Kurdish analyst based in the US聽聽in October 2014.
Mostafa Minawi, director of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Initiative at Cornell University, says that Kobane's importance goes beyond the current battle. He says it lies 鈥渁t the heart of a Kurdish dream. He t that the town is connected with the Kurds鈥� 鈥渇uture ambition鈥� of a 鈥渨ider local-rule model鈥� for Kurds in Syria and Turkey.
For the US, the Syrian border city has emerged as important for geopolitical and symbolic reasons. 聽
wrote in October 2014:
The town, once dismissed as inconsequential by American commanders, has become not only a focus of the American operation against the Islamic State, known as ISIS, but also a test of the administration鈥檚 strategy, which is based on airstrikes on ISIS-controlled areas in Syria and reliance on local ground forces to defeat the militants.
A setback in Kobane would show the fragility of the American plan and hand the Islamic State an important victory. Given Kobani鈥檚 location next to Turkey, the town鈥檚 fall would put the Islamic State in a position to cross the border and directly threaten a NATO ally, a move that could force the alliance to come to Turkey鈥檚 defense.
On Jan. 26, Kurdish forces, backed by several days of heavy US-led airstrikes, . 聽In mid-September, ISIS fighters surrounded the the Syrian-Kurdish city of Kobane, and on Sept. 27,聽聽targeted ISIS forces in Kobane.
The city has been in control of the Kurds until Thursday when the Islamic State fighters pushed them back.
As for the Islamic State, The Wall Street Journal explains that Kobane has a . It is the access route into Turkey which makes it an important gateway.聽
But Kobane's value is greater than giving ISIS just another border crossing for weapons and supplies, argues聽
"Kobane and the other cantons that are part of the Kurdish autonomy experiment are entirely flat. If Kobane falls, the two other cantons will fall easily because they are impossible to defend. And they are integral to securing the 1,200km border with Turkey. If ISIL takes control of the Kurdish enclave, they will have taken full control of the Turkish border."
But BBC correspondent Quentin Sommerville suggests that the city is not strategically important to ISIS. He sees the jihadists' Thursday attack on Kobane as simply an :
This latest attack shows that its loss, after five months of heavy street-to-street fighting and coalition aerial bombardment, still hurts IS.
In its two-day assault, ISIS killed more than 200 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director on Saturday.
Mustafa Bali, an activist in Kobane, told the Associated Press that Kobane is now "".聽There are that civilians began returning to the town from Turkey.
