Airstrikes led by the United States in Syria, against the Islamic State militants have killed 553 people, since September. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 464 Islamic State fighters , 57 militants and 32 civilians were killed during the air strikes. In the mean time, fights are going on in Kobane, an important city in Syria. Militants and Kurdish fighters fight for control over the area. According to certain Kurdish sources, the Islamic State was able to take over a strategic hilltop, approximately 4 km from Kobane. Nine days ago, Kurdish forces managed to take Tal Shair from the Islamic State fighters. ISIS fighters on the other hand, have been attacking Kurdish positions and the center of town.
According to Kurdish officials in Syria, Islamic State fighters launched a series of attacks on Wednesday night. The attacks came from the southern and eastern sides of Kobane, in an attempt to gain access to the town center. The fight in Syria continued on Thursday morning. The control over Tal Shair has changed between the Kurdish fighters in Syria and the Islamic State militants, in the past days. The Kurdish fighters were able to capture the hill from the Islamic State on October 14. The hill is a major strategic point. Whoever has control over it has a better chance of keeping Kobane under control. Kobane is a town in Syria, occupied mostly by Kurds. If the Islamic State fighters manage to capture the town of Kobane, they would gain control over a big part of territory in Syria, along the border with Turkey.
The Kurdish fighters, together with the Free Syrian Army reported that they managed to launch a counter-attack against the Islamic State. Their main purpose was to decrease the pressure on their colleagues south and east of Kobane. Kurdish officials declared that these past weeks, the fights have been very intense. The US envoy, put together by President Barack Obama, in order to build a coalition against the Islamic State, declared that Turkey has helped a lot in dealing with the problems in Syria. Turkey has accepted over 1.5 million refugees. The United States are currently trying to work with other governments to cut off the enormous funding received by the Islamic State.