In Syria, the Kurdish advance in Kobani, on the frontier with Turkey, marked the culmination of a battle lasting more than four months in which nearly 1,800 people were killed.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) had “expelled all ISIS fighters from Kobani and have full control of the town”.
“The Kurds are pursuing some terrorists on the eastern outskirts of Kobani, but there is no more fighting inside now,” said the Observatory’s Rami Abdel Rahman.
The four-month battle for Kobane has claimed at least 1,800 lives after ISIS tried to seize the strategic town
US Central Command said Kurdish forces now had control of 90 percent of Kobani.
YPG General Command has issued a statement in the wake of the victory attained in Kobani following 133 days of resistance to IS groups.
“This is the victory of the line of freedom over the dark ISIS”, said YPG General Command.
YPG General Command pointed out that fighters of the YPG/YPJ, male and female youths of Kurdistan, and volunteers joining them from across Kurdistan and other countries have put up a fierce fight and great resistance to the IS attacks for 133 days.
The statement underlined that: “Kobani town of Syrian Kurdistan has entirely been liberated from IS groups today.”
Kurdish forces were carrying out “mopping-up operations” against remaining IS forces in the Maqtala district, on the town’s eastern outskirts.
YPG spokesman Polat Jan also announced the news on Twitter, writing: “Congratulations to humanity, Kurdistan, and the people of Kobani on the liberation of Kobani.”
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CLICK AND WATCH Celebrations on Turkish border after Kurdish troops raise their flag in Kobane after driving out the ISIS
Mustafa Abdi, an activist from the town, said the “fighting has stopped”.
YPG forces were “advancing carefully in Maqtala because of the threat of mines and car bombs,” he added.
The Kurdish advance came after the Pentagon said the international coalition had carried out 17 air strikes against terrorists positions in Kobani within 24 hours.
The group has lost 1,196 fighters since it began its advance on the town on September 16, said the British-based Observatory.
Analysts say the loss of Kobani is both a symbolic and strategic blow for ISIS, which set its sights on the small town in a bid to cement its control over a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.
Civilians were largely spared in the fighting because they evacuated en masse, mostly across the border into Turkey, in the early stages of the battle.
A Syrian Kurdish woman walks in a refugee camp in the town of Suruc, Sanliurfa province, on October 17, 2014. Kurdish rebels have been infuriated by the lack of action by Turkey against ISIS terrorists trying to take the mainly Kurdish town of Kobane just across the Syrian border. AFP