The Siege of Kobani: A Brief, Open-Source Account

During the Summer of 2014 the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, commonly known to the Western world as ISIS, dominated world news headlines. This fanatical group of hardened fighters had arisen, seemingly out of nowhere and swept through much of Eastern Syria and Western Iraq in a lightening advance. From the suburbs of Baghdad to the outskirts of Aleppo, this brutal terror syndicate had founded a proto-state, a so-called Caliphate that showed no signs of halting its expansion. In attempting to cleanse their northern border with Turkey, the terror group took a detour to wipe out a Kurdish militia known as the YPG or People's Protection Units in the city of Kobani. Though the small town of 50,000 may have promised an easy victory, it became a rock upon which the Caliphate broke itself on. From September of 2014 to January of 2015, approximately 2,000 Kurdish YPG militia and their Free Syrian Army allies fought off an Islamic State force several times their size. The city would see house to house fighting for almost four months. Daily shelling, suicide truck-bombs and over 700 coalition airstrikes would turn the town into a moonscape of twisted steel and concrete blocks, earning it a moniker, "the Kurdish Stalingrad." Despite their inferior numbers and lack of supplies, the defenders would emerge victorious. The breaking of the siege brought international attention, air support and material aid to the Kurdish forces and their allies, drastically altering the outcome of the war. Using open-source material, 'The Siege of Kobani' tells the story of this short but pivotal chapter in the Syrian Civil War.