U.S. calls for 'strategic patience' after strikes near Kobani
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday reported six airstrikes that helped stop Islamic State militants from taking over the Syrian town of Kobani, but played down the significance of the battle in the long-term U.S. strategy to defeat the Islamist group. The airstrikes destroyed an armored personnel carrier, armed vehicles and artillery belonging to the militant group, which had threatened to overrun the town on the Turkish border, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement. Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said it was essential to take a long-term view of the conflict. The group may take Kobani or other towns, he said. While airstrikes were effective, military power alone would not be enough. "People need to understand we need a little strategic patience here. This group is not going to go away tomorrow, and Kobani may fall. We can't predict whether it will or it won't," Kirby said in an interview with CNN. "There will be other towns that they will threaten, and there will be other towns that they will take. It is going to take a little bit of time." The United States has launched airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq since August 8 and in Syria since Sept. 23, sometimes with partners in an international coalition that President Barack Obama has sought to build against the group. The airstrikes on Kobani were part of nine overall strikes in Syria conducted over the last two days with the United Arab Emirates, using bomber, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft, CENTCOM said. It said all the aircraft left the area safely. ATTACK ON KOBANI The strikes near Kobani stalled the militant group, which had appeared set to seize the town after a three-week assault that sent tens of thousands of Kurdish residents fleeing over the Turkish border. U.S.-led airstrikes in the area redoubled after the Islamic State hoisted its black flag on the eastern edge of Kobani on Monday. Two other strikes near Raqqa, the group's de facto capital in Syria, hit a training camp for the militants and the group's fighters there, according to CENTCOM. Another strike near Deir al-Zor destroyed a tank, it said. The United States, Britain and the Netherlands also conducted five strikes on targets in Iraq on Tuesday and Wednesday using fighters and drones. Kirby said strikes in Syria were "a little more strategic in nature" than those in Iraq. "The campaign inside Syria is really designed to get at this group's ability to sustain, to recruit, to train, to equip, to finance itself," he said. In Iraq, the airstrikes have focused on specific fighting units, aimed at halting advances by the militants or aiding Kurdish or Iraqi government forces trying to retake territory on the ground. Kobani, on the Turkish border, "is not necessarily a strategically significant border town for ISIL because that border is porous already," Kirby said, referring to the group by one of its acronyms. Obama has ruled out the use of U.S. combat troops in the fight against Islamic State. The military strategy combines an air campaign with ground operations by local forces. Kurds, who live in many of the areas of northern Syria and Iraq that have been taken over by Islamic State fighters, as well as parts of southeast Turkey, have been pressuring the Turkish government to intervene to defend Kobani. The United States is also trying to get Turkey, its NATO partner, to engage more generally in the fight against Islamic State. (Reporting by Susan Heavey; and Mohammad Zargham; Editing by David Storey and Frances Kerry)
