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Islamic State attacks test Kurdish-Syrian rebel alliance

The Islamic State’s offensive against the Kurdish stronghold of Kobani came only days after the People’s Protection Units formed an alliance with local Syrian rebel brigades to confront the terrorist group.
Syrian Kurds wait behind the border fence to cross into Turkey near the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province, September 19, 2014. Several thousand Syrian Kurds began crossing into Turkey on Friday fleeing Islamic State fighters who advanced into their villages, prompting warnings of massacres from Kurdish leaders. Islamic State (IS) fighters have seized villages in northern Syria over the past two days and are besieging the mainly Kurdish town of Ayn al-Arab, known as Kobani in Kurdish, on the T
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ALEPPO, Syria — The Islamic State (IS) attack on the area of Kobani — also known as Ayn al-Arab — on the Turkish border north of Aleppo raises a lot of questions about the ability of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) to prevent IS from reaching one of its main strongholds, as IS sweeps through dozens of Kurdish villages.

The ongoing IS advance on the ground has also tested the newly formed Joint Operations Room set up Sept. 10 between the YPG and several rebel brigades. According to Amer Hasan, director of the Dawn of Freedom Brigades’ media office, rebel factions there “are doing their best” to support the YPG.

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