Kurds expand offensive against Islamic State

(MENAFN- Arab News) BEIRUT: Kurdish fighters expanded their offensive Tuesday after driving Islamic State (IS) militants from the Syrian border town of Kobani the previous day to retake dozens of surrounding villages still held by the militants activists and officials said.Pushing IS out of Kobani after a bloody four-month campaign was a significant boost for both the Kurds and the US-led coalition though the US Central Central Command tempered Monday's victory by saying it estimated that 90 percent of Kobani was now controlled by Kurdish forces.From Kobani Kurdish troops took the fight Tuesday to the village of Shiran southeast of the town said Mustafa Bali a Kobani-based activist. Earlier in the day they captured the nearby village of Qarah Hlanj. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the capture of Qarah Hlanj and said the fighting near Shiran has intensified.The victory in Kobani came at a high cost.'The city has been fully liberated' said senior Kurdish official Idriss Nassan speaking by telephone from inside the town. He said Kobani is 'nearly destroyed.'In September IS fighters captured about 300 Kurdish villages and hamlets near Kobani and thrust into the town itself occupying nearly half of it and sending tens of thousands of residents fleeing into Turkey.The main Kurdish militia the People's Protection Units or YPG aims to 'liberate' all villages near Kobani area from IS fighters the force's commander Mohammed Barkhadan told reporters Tuesday.The scope of the destruction will make it hard for refugees to return anytime soon.'The war in the town is over but the difficult task has begun' said Bali the activist. 'There is no water electricity or sewage system.'Across the border Turkish security forces fired tear gas Tuesday to prevent about 1000 Kurds from crossing into Kobani to celebrate Turkey's private Dogan news agency reported. Earlier several legislators from Turkey's pro-Kurdish party traveled to Kobani.Nawaf Khalil a spokesman for Syria's powerful Kurdish Democratic Union Party urged the world to help. Kobani he said 'deserves international support for its reconstruction.'