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Siege of Ayn al-Arab/Kobanê
Part of the Syrian Kurdish–Islamist conflict (2013–present)
Date 16 September 2014 - ongoing (10 years, 3 months, 1 week and 2 days) Location Ayn al-Arab, northern Syria Result Ongoing ISIS captures 350 villages and towns in the Ayn al-Arab region and advances to within one kilometer from the town of Ayn al-Arab Some 90 percent of residents of Ayn al-Arab and nearby villages have fled in Turkey. PYD only controls the border town of Ayn al-Arab
Belligerents
Rojava YPG Kurdistan Workers' Party File:Jabhat al-akrad logo.jpeg Jabhat al-Akrad Free Syrian Army Supported by:  United States(air strikes)	Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Commanders and leaders
Ismet Sheikh Hassan	Unknown
Strength
1,500 fighters (reinforcements)	4,000 fighters
Casualties and losses
112 killed	166–237 killed
34 civilians killed 160,000–200,000 civilians flee to Turkey

The Siege of Ayn al-Arab (Arabic name) or Kobanê (in Kurdish) was launched by the Islamic State militants on September 16, 2014, in order to capture Ayn al-Arab. As of October 2, the Islamic State succeeded in capturing 325 Kurdish inhabited villages and towns and creating a wave of some 200,000 displaced Kurds, with most of them fleeing into Turkey.

Offensive

ISIS advance

On 17 September, following the capture of a strategic bridge over the Euphrates, ISIS launched a large offensive using tanks, rockets and artillery in the direction of Kobanê and within 24 hours captured 21 Kurdish inhabited villages. The advance left Ayn al-Arab encircled by ISIS forces.

On 19 September, ISIS captured 39 more villages, bringing their forces to within 20 kilometers of Ayn al-Arab. 45,000 refugees crossed into Turkey, fearing an ISIS takeover of the region, while a number of refugees was stopped at the border and ordered to return to Kobanê by Turkish authorities. The inhabitants of 100 villages were evacuated after coming under continuous shelling and dozens of civilians and YPG fighters were killed as the ISIS advance continued.

On 20 September, ISIS forces reached to within 15 kilometers of Ayn al-Arab after capturing three more villages and started bombarding areas 10 kilometers from the city. Meanwhile, more than 300 Kurdish fighters reached Ayn al-Arab from Turkey as reinforcements. Senior PKK official Murat Karayilan appealed to the Kurdish youth in Turkey to join Kurdish forces in Syria. During the day, three rockets exploded within Ayn al-Arab, spreading fear among its inhabitants. Since the start of the offensive, 34 civilians had been killed, while the number of refugees had reached 60,000.

As of 21 September, ISIS captured 64 villages, while 39 ISIS and 27 Kurdish fighters had been killed in the previous 48 hours. Kurdish forces evacuated at least 100 villages on the Syrian side after ISIS militants started the onslaught against the Kurdish villages. ISIS troops reached to within 10 kilometers from the city and were continuing to advance with fighting concentrated on the southern and eastern suburbs of Ayn al-Arab, 13 kilometers from the town.

On 22 September, a Kurdish spokesman reported that the IS advance east of Ayn al-Arab had been halted during the previous night. Despite this, ISIS forces shelled the center of the city and clashes continued in the vicinity of the village of Mojik (about 6 km west of Ayn al-Arab) and the village of Alishar (7 km east of the city). On the same day, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said that more than 130,000 Syrian Kurds fled across the border into Turkey, escaping an advance by ISIS jihadists.

On 24 September, ISIS forces made more advances south of the city despite air strikes against its supply lines by warplanes which reportedly came from the Turkish side of the border. This brought them to within 8 kilometers south of Ayn al-Arab, the closest they had been to the city since the offensive started. During the advance, ISIS captured the villages of Robey and Tall Ghazal and nearby grain silos. In addition, an ISIS source claimed their forces had also captured several villages to the west of Ayn al-Arab. The frontline to the west had moved to the cluster of villages called Siftek as more ISIS fighters and tanks arrived for the offensive during the previous day.

The next morning, ISIS fighters were around 2 kilometers away as clashes were continuing. By this point, ISIS controlled 75 percent of the Ayn al-Arab region, while Kurdish forces only had control of Kobanê, the smaller town of Shera and around 15 villages.

On 26 September, ISIS troops captured a hill, from where YPG fighters had been attacking them in recent days, 10 km (6 miles) west of Ayn al-Arab. They also captured a village around 7 km to the east of Kobanê.

Coalition Airstrikes and Ayn al-Arab surrounded

On 27 September, U.S. and Arab coalition planes bombed the area around Ayn al-Arab for the first time, targeting ISIS positions in the village of Alishar, 4 kilometers from Ayn al-Arab, and used as a command and control center by ISIS. Despite the coalition airstrikes against frontline ISIS positions, they were still able to shell the city of Ayn al-Arab for the first time, wounding several people. The reticence to use airstrikes to help the Kurdish city was perhaps to avoid upsetting Turkey.

By 28 September, 1,500 Kurdish fighters reinforced the Kurds in Kobanê.

On 29 September, ISIS forces approaching from the south and the southeast were 5 kilometers from the city, while Ayn al-Arab was facing sustained bombardment for a second day. The next day, ISIS troops coming in from the east advanced to 2–3 kilometers from Ayn al-Arab. During the fighting, the Kurds reportedly destroyed two ISIS tanks. ISIS fighters also captured the village of Siftek, to the west, and used it to stage attacks on Ayn al-Arab itself. The village of Kazikan was also captured.

On 1 October, ISIS advanced south-east of Ayn al-Arab and on the western front, from which Kurdish forces retreated. This resulted in ISIS troops capturing the final village on the outskirts of Ayn al-Arab and approaching to within one kilometer from the town's entrance. At this point, Kurdish fighters in Ayn al-Arab were reinforcing their positions with sand bags to prepare for potential house-to-house fighting. By evening, amid a sharp shortage of weapons, Kurdish forces withdrew from the city suburbs as ISIS forces continued their advance. Reports emerged that Kurdish fighters, including women, had been beheaded.

By 2 October, IS forces had taken well over 300 of the 354 villages around Ayn al-Arab and were positioned only hundreds of meters to the south and south-east of the city. The next day, ISIS militants took control of Ayn al-Arab's southern and eastern entrances and exits. They had also taken a strategic hill and a radio tower, which overlooks the town. Later, a Kurdish fighter reported to CNN that ISIS had entered the city's south-western edges and fighting was ongoing. Although the Pentagon have stated that the US-led coalition had conducted at least seven air sorties against Isis around Kobanê in the five days to Wednesday, no such action was reported to have been carried out on either 2 or 3 October.

Spillover on the Turkish side of the border

With well over a hundred thousand refugees fleeing into Turkey and PKK commandos and other volunteers trying to go the other way, Turkish security forces at the Mürşitpınar Border Gate less than five miles away from Ayn al-Arab, tear gassed protesters who make up those going on both directions. On 30 September, errant shells landed on Turkish soil and the Turks shot back into Syrian territory.

International reactions

 Turkey - Turkish government opened their borders to some 200,000 Kurdish refugees from Ayn al-Arab area, arriving within several days from the onslaught of the Islamic State militias. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said that Turkey "will do whatever we can so that Kobanê does not fall".

- In September, the PKK threatened to resume its fight against the Turkish government, partly because of what it said was the latter's support for the onslaught against Kobanê. In response to the treatment of fleeing Kurdish refugees, the PKK killed three and wound two Turkish policemen, violating the PKK–Turkey year-and-a-half old cease fire.

 Iraqi Kurdistan - Kurdish Iraqi officials said they are waiting for PYD approval to send reinforcements to Ayn al-Arab.

 Syria - A senior Syrian minister apologized for not sending airstrikes, saying that Ayn al-Arab was so close to the Turkish border, that their jets would violate Turkish territory and be shot down.

See also

References

This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as reFill (documentation) and Citation bot (documentation). (October 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

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12. 3 killed (16 September), 5 killed (17 September), 6 killed (18 September), 27 killed (19–21 September), 5 killed (22 September), 8 killed (24 September), 5 killed (27 September), 9 killed (29 September), 16 killed (30 September), 7 killed (1 October), 7 killed (2 October), 14 killed (3 October), total of 112 reported killed
13. 6 killed (16 September), 5 killed (18 September), 18 killed (19 September), 23 killed (20 September), 8 killed (21 September), 24 killed (22 September), 12 killed (24 September), 7–28 killed (26 September), 5 killed (27 September), 9–52 killed (28 September), 6 killed (29 September), 2 killed (30 September), 9 killed (1 October), 5 killed (1 October), 16 killed (2 October), 7 killed (3 October), total of 166–237 reported killed
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