BEIRUT--Islamic State fighters recaptured a critical hill near
the besieged city of Kobani on Thursday, dealing a blow to Syrian
Kurdish forces in what has been a seesaw battle for small patches
of territory in and around the northern Syrian city.
The hill, which has changed hands repeatedly in the five-week
siege of the city, fell again to Islamic State forces after hours
of fighting with the Syrian Kurdish forces and the rebel Free
Syrian Army, Khaled Barkal, vice president of Kobani's local
government, said by phone from the city.
With the retaking of the hill, known as Tel Shair, the extremist
group can now shell Kobani from the south, east and west, according
to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group.
A small force of the Free Syrian Army has been fighting
alongside Syrian Kurds in Kobani throughout the fighting for the
mainly Kurdish city.
The hill, located 2 miles west of Kobani, was captured by
Islamic State at the start of fighting last month before being
retaken by Syrian Kurdish forces after the U.S. stepped up
airstrikes last week.
U.S. attacks have killed 464 Islamic State fighters since the
U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State expanded to Syria on
September 23, the Observatory said Thursday. The strikes also
killed 57 members of the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and 32
civilians, it said.
A day after a spokesman for the Kurdish militia fighting in
Kobani said U.S. arms wouldn't be enough to prevent Islamic State
from capturing the city, the government of northern Iraq's
autonomous Kurdish region said Wednesday it would send within "a
couple of days" up to 150 soldiers equipped with heavy weapons to
join the fight.
There was no sign on Thursday that those soldiers had left Iraqi
Kurdistan to travel through Turkey to Kobani.
Three U.S. C-130 cargo planes dropped 28 bundles of weapons,
ammunition and medical supplies in northwestern Kobani on Monday
morning in a bid to help the Kurds defend the city.
The Syrian Kurds have repeatedly warned the U.S. they require
heavy weaponry to confront Islamic State, which is fighting with
superior arms such as tanks and artillery.
The U.S. military's Central Command said its fighter jets and
bomber aircraft had carried out four airstrikes near Kobani
Wednesday and Thursday, destroying an Islamic State vehicle,
command-and-control center and "fighting positions."
It said it had also destroyed two Islamic State oil-holding
tanks near the city of Deir Ezzour in eastern Syria, as the U.S.
and its Arab and Western partners carried out nine airstrikes
against what it said were Islamic State assets in neighboring
Iraq.
Mohammad Nour Alakraa in Beirut contributed to this article.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires