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US Doesn't Fear Anti-Aircraft Systems While Aiding Kurds in Fight Against IS

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The Islamic State (IS) does not have any anti-aircraft weaponry, what allows the United States to safely deliver aid to Kurdish fighters, using largest cargo planes without the fighter escort, senior US administration officials announced Monday.

WASHINGTON, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - The Islamic State (IS) does not have any anti-aircraft weaponry, what allows the United States to safely deliver aid to Kurdish fighters, using largest cargo planes without the fighter escort, senior US administration officials announced Monday.

“We still don't have any indication that ISIL is in possession of anti-air capability. And that's been our assessment for some time now, and that's still what we believe,” the officials noted, adding that “the C-130s [cargo planes] did not have escort with them, fighter escort.”

According to the officials, there are no indications that IS fighters have any anti-aircraft weaponry of which the C-130 would have been an easy target.

The United States has airdropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies for Kurdish troops, defending the Syrian border town of Kobani against advancing IS insurgents, according to the US Central Command.

The Islamic State is a Sunni extremist group that has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, it launched an offensive in Iraq, seizing vast areas in both countries and announcing the establishment of an Islamic caliphate on the territories under its control. The group has most recently besieged the town of Kobani, located on the Syrian border with Turkey, trapping the Kurdish forces inside the town.

In September, Washington announced the formation of an international coalition to fight extremists and extended its airstrikes against the militants into Syria, while continuing strikes against the group's targets in Iraq.

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