YPG in control of a third of villages around Kobane: report

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Syrian-Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) have regained control of a third of villages around Kobane in a fortnight of fighting with the Islamic State (ISIS), a London-based monitoring group reported.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on its website Sunday that the YPG, backed by two other Syrian rebel groups, “have regained control of 128 villages in Kobane countryside” since January 24.

It said that ISIS “is pulling back from many villages,” due to “violent clashes” with the YPG and that 35 percent of the villages had been liberated from the extremist Sunni insurgents.

Kobane, the Syrian town that sits hard on the Turkish border, has become a symbol of Kurdish resistance, resisting an ISIS takeover for months.

The tided turned in the Kurds’ favor after the US-led anti-ISIS coalition stepped up airstrikes against the insurgents in Kobane, and the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces stepped into the fight a fortnight later.

Kurdish forces celebrated the liberation of Kobane -- which soldiers fighting there say has been turned to virtual rubble -- about two weeks ago.