Pentagon Reports IS Still Consolidates About 10% of Kobani

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby stated that the Islamic State still holds 10 percent of the Syrian border city of Kobani.

WASHINGTON, January 28 (Sputnik) — The terrorist extremist group Islamic State (IS, or ISIL) still holds 10 percent of the Syrian border city of Kobani, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said.

“A very small percentage, somewhere is the neighborhood of ten, I think, is still being contested by ISIL,” Kirby said at a Tuesday press briefing.

However, Kirby underscored that “the vast majority of Kobani is now being held by anti-ISIL forces,” according to the US Central Command assessment.

“We will continue to strike these guys [IS militants] when and where they present themselves, so I can not rule out any potential airstrikes in or around Kobani,” the press secretary added.

Kobani, one of the largest cities in the Kurdish region in Syria, was besieged by IS last September. Since then, Kurdish forces with help of the US-led coalition have been making attempts to drive the extremists out of the city.

In December 2014, Syrian Kurds leader Saleh Muslim Mohammad said that the main goal of Kurdish forces fighting against Islamic State was full liberation of Kobani.