The Battle for Kobane
The city of Kobane has been at the epicentre of a battle between ISIS militants and Syrian Kurds (aided by foreign airstrikes). Satellite images captured by DigitalGlobe and analysed by UNOSAT, show several buildings in the Kobane region have been severely damaged and vehicle traffic is almost absent throughout the city. Residential buildings have been reportedly destroyed by air strikes carried out by US against ISIS positions in town.
October 15: The images above show a portion of the northern part of the town of Kobane where several buildings were destroyed or severely damaged (blue arrows), possibly by airstrikes. A large crater is also visible next to the damaged structures (red arrow). Images copyright 2014 DigitalGlobe, processed by UNOSAT.
More than 1000 people have been killed since the ISIS jihadists launched an offensive on the Syrian town in September. Refugees, who fled the fighting have set up camps on the Turkish side of the border and abandoned their vehicles on the roads. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, has revealed that US strikes have killed around 750 ISIS fighters in the country, of which hundreds are known to have been involved in the fighting around Kobane. According to The Straits Tmes, UN chief Ban Ki Moon has urged action to prevent a massacre of civilians in the city as jihadists continue to fight Kurdish defenders. Turkey has repeatedly appealed for a no-fly zone to enable the establishment of safe havens inside Syria for the many families still fleeing the violence. The influx of some 200,000 refugees from Kobane has pushed Turkey’s Syrian refugee population to 2 million, according to Ahmet Davutoglu, Prime Minister of Turkey.
Source: UNOSAT, Independent UK
