Operation Featherweight: Month 4, Week 2, Day 3.

The Battle of Kobane/Ayn al-Arab is now in its 63rd day. Over the past several days the fighting has once again settled into an attrition phase with the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) trying to consolidate their recent gains while the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) launched wave after wave of counter attack to re-gain territory they have lost.

In the east of the city the majority of the fighting has been focused on the Azadi (Freedom) Square and the Reshad Mosque areas. Despite almost two days of near continuous fighting it seems that no territory has been lost or gained by either side although the YPG have captured quantities of weapons and ammunition from ISIL and killed at least 18 ISIL fighters including 1 senior commander. In the south of the city there have been similar clashes although these seem to have been almost completely continuous in nature making it hard to assess exact details of what has taken place. However it is becoming clear that the YPG have not lost any significant territory.

On the outskirts of Kobane the YPG have pushed out west beyond Tall Shair hill and into the villages of Minaz and Gire Iza. This increases the buffer between Kobane and ISIL forces on the western front to around 8km (4.8 miles) substantially loosening ISIL's siege of the city. To the south-east the YPG have continued to expand and then consolidate their hold on the main road between Kobane and the ISIL stronghold of Raqqa - 140km (84 miles) to the south-east - at the village of Helinj. This of course cuts ISIL's main supply line into Kobane however the YPG have not yet been able to fully re-capture Mishtenur hill which would completely trap ISIL in the south of Kobane. This of course puts the YPG fighters in Helinj in a perilous position holding out between two large groups of ISIL fighters.

Across all fronts the YPG have lost 8 fighters in the last two days. Although they have been able to capture weapons and ammunition from ISIL it has been almost two full weeks since YPG units in Kobane were fully re-supplied and the fighting has once again moved into an attrition phase. Therefore it is becoming increasingly urgent that Kobane is soon re-supplied again - ideally by road from Turkey - or all the gains that have been made in the past two weeks risk being overturned.

ISIL have also been suffering substantial set-backs in Iraq. On Friday (14/11/14) the Iraqi government announced that it had not only liberated the town of Beiji which sits around 180km (105 miles) north of Iraq's capital Baghdad but also broken the siege of the large oil refinery that sits just outside Beiji. This is certainly more truth then lie. On Wednesday (12/11/14) the Iraq Army backed by Shia militiamen had liberated around 60% of Beiji including the critical central district. Throughout Thursday they pushed directly north out of the town liberating around a further 20% of the city in the process. From Beiji's northern border the Iraqi forces then quickly moved directly to the oil refinery which is around 5km (3 miles) to the north thus breaking the ISIL siege of the refinery which has been going on since June.

As a result the Beiji refinery which produces around 25% of Iraq's oil products including gasoline is close to being back in production. However the Iraqis still need to clear ISIL from the areas in Beiji town they still hold along with the areas to the north, east and west of the refinery alongside making the whole area safe from roadside bombs and booby traps. While I appreciate the need to for good news the speed at which the Iraqis announced that Beiji had been totally liberated is unlikely to win them any friends. That's because it gives the impression that they don't quite understand the scale of the task ahead of them and that doesn't inspire confidence in them as a fighting force.

Any concerns about the Iraqis fighting abilities that the premature announcement of victory at Beiji may have caused were quickly dispelled on Saturday (15/11/14) when they also re-captured the Adhaim Dam from ISIL. Sitting around 100km (60 miles) north of Baghdad and around 115km (70 miles) south-east of Beiji the Adhaim Dam is considered Iraq's third largest behind Mosul and Haditha Dams and is primarily used for irrigation of vital farmland in the surrounding area. As with Iraq's other dams it sits in front of a large reservoir which if the dam was destroyed could be used as a tsunami-style weapon on mass destruction.

13:45 on 16/11/14 (UK date).

Edited at around 16:15 on 16/11/14 (UK date).

Despite the Iraqis and the Syrian Kurds significant gains against ISIL the US-led coalition has seemed far more interested in carrying out symbolic, showpiece bombing rather then offering support to those fighting ISIL.

On Friday the US announced that it had again carried out air-strikes against the mythical "Khorasan Group." As I explain every time they're mentioned the Khorasan Group are more of a loose assembly of highly trained, core Al-Qaeda fighters rather then an actual group. Their name which was assigned by US intelligence comes from a large province in north-eastern Iran. As such the exist more as a euphemism for Iran or more generally Shia Muslims rather then an actual enemy. Unfortunately I've not been able to find out which Syrian group the US actually bombed in the attack but as the strikes occurred in Aleppo City it seems that the location of the attack was more important then the target itself.

Located 50km (30 miles) east of Syria's western border with Turkey Aleppo City sits around 100km (60 miles) west of the ISIL stronghold of Raqqa and around 450km (270 miles) north of Syria's capital Damascus. The capital of Aleppo province Aleppo City provides something of a neat microcosm of the entire Syria conflict. The majority of the city (65-70%) is controlled by the Syrian government while a further 20-25% is controlled by the Al Qaeda affiliate Al Nusra Front (ANF). The remaining 5-10% of the city is in the hands of other rebel groups in either the Free Syrian Army (FSA) or the Islamic Front (IF) groupings. However recently FSA groups in the area such as the Syrian Revolutionaries Front (SRF) and Harakat Hazm have recently switched their allegiance to ANF. The area outside of Aleppo City is under ISIL control.

Ever since Hezbollah joined the fight in Syria at the request of the Syrian government back in April 2013 all the Sunni-Arab insurgent groups have slowly and steadily been losing territory to the Syrian government. This is a large part of the reason why ISIL turned tail and headed off into Iraq in late 2013. As the Syrian government has been focusing its efforts on reclaiming territory along Syria's western side Aleppo City has recently become the next city on their list and they have steadily been re-capturing it. However as the insurgent groups grip on reality has always been a bit tenuous they have decided that it is the US-led coalition's air-strikes against ISIL that is causing the Syrian government to gain ground in Aleppo City. As such the United Nations Special Envoy on Syria - Staffan de Mistura - has been proposing a freeze on the fighting in Aleppo City. Primarily this is an effort to stop the insurgent groups being defeated but it is being presented as a way to seperate the fight against ISIL from the wider conflict in Syria.

Therefore the real reason behind the attack in Aleppo was US President Obama making concessions to the Sunni-Arab insurgent groups and Turkey by indicating that he is far more interested in starting an illegal war against the Syrian government and killing as many Shias as possible rather then defeating ISIL. The US made a further concession on Saturday when it announced that it is going to pay for 2000 fighters from Sunni-Arab insurgent groups to be trained in Turkey. As both the SRF and Harakat Hazm were trained and supplied with US weapons in Turkey before defecting to Al Qaeda and taking that US paid for training and weapons with them this doesn't strike me as the brightest idea the US has ever had.

Meanwhile Turkey is still refusing the allow the coalition to use USAF base Incirlik or move supplies to Kobane through Turkish territory. Also on Friday Turkey announced that 12 people who had been arrested for assaulting 2 US Navy sailors in Istanbul on Wednesday (12/11/14) were to be released without charge, bail or even questioning. This represents a very clear endorsement by the Turkish government of assaults on US service personnel and seems to confirm that the attacks themselves were planned in advance by the Turkish government.

Putting aside concerns over whether the Sunni-Arab insurgent groups can be trusted and the fact that making concessions to Turkey under these circumstances makes the US look extremely weak Saturday provided further evidence that this plan simply will not work when Syrian civilians rose up against the local Sunni-Arab insurgent group in Douma. What's been happening in this suburb around 15km (9 miles) to the north-east of Damascus is your pretty standard failed state gangsterism. Basically the Army of Islam who are part of the IF grouping had been exploiting food shortages to drive up prices and line their own pockets. Amid complaints from local residents the Army of Islam crucified a man who had led the complaints in the main square. This attempt to terrorise the local population into silence failed and on Saturday local residents attempted to storm the Army of Islam's food stores. The Army of Islam opened fire on them to stop them.

This morning ISIL released another of their propaganda videos. Lasting around 15 minutes this was divided into three main sections. The opening section gives a brief history of the group in which a clear effort was made to emphasise that it was formed to kill US troops in Iraq but was later forced to fight against the Syria's Shia led government (which is considered infidels) in order to avoid divisions with other Sunni-Arab insurgent groups that were fighting the Syrian government. This utterly destroys Obama's repeated claims that ISIL was formed in response to the actions of the Syrian government. It also almost seems to be celebrating Obama's promise to send more US troops to Iraq because ISIL obviously intends to kill them.

The second section of the video shows the beheading of 18 Syrian government soldiers and airmen. The video is keen to emphasise that they are members of the Shia Alawite sect and therefore considered infidels. This section seems primarily to terrify ISIL opponents but also reassure the other Sunni-Arab insurgents that ISIL is still committed to fighting Syria's infidel government and killing as many Shias as possible. The other thing I found interesting about this section is that it actually shows the beheadings. Hacking somebody's head off with a bayonet is really quite difficult especially when you have to cut through the spinal cord. Therefore previous beheading videos have actually only shown the victim's throat being cut before an edit and then footage of the decapitated corpse. This has led to ISIL supporters on the Internet and other conspiracy theorists to claim that the videos have actually been faked to provide a justification for fighting ISIL. So by actually showing the beheadings this time ISIL seem to be trying to convince their own supporters that yes they do indeed cut people's heads off.

The final section features audio recordings of different Islamist groups in places like Libya, Algeria and Yemen pledging allegiance to ISIL. It also features audio recordings of ISIL's self-styled Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi accepting those pledges of allegiance and welcoming the new members. Crucially this section includes the pledge by Ansar Beit al-Maqdis - an Egyptian group based in the Sinai. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis only pledged allegiance to ISIL last Monday (10/11/14) several days after al-Baghdadi was injured in an air-strike near Mosul in Iraq. Therefore this is intended to prove that al-Baghdadi was not killed or even seriously wounded in the US attack.

Really driving home that point the video ends with British born ISIL "executioner-in-chief" who is known as "Jihadi John" standing with the decapitated head of former US Army Ranger Peter Kassig at his feet. This is intended to be a big "F*ck You!" to America over the Mosul air-strike by showing that it was not a success and ISIL are still most certainly in business. It actually appears as though prior to the release of the video ISIL put around a false rumour that Jihadi John had also been injured in the strike in order to maximise the impact of his shock return. Finally although he was in Syria as an aid worker and converted to ISIL's branch of Islam whilst in captivity the video ignores all that and instead focuses on the fact that Kassig served with the "armies of the cross" (US Army) in Iraq.

That struck me as ISIL practically demanding that Obama sends more US troops to Iraq for ISIL to kill. I however think it should make Obama think long and hard about the way he is prepared to sacrifice American lives for political convenience.

17:40 on 16/11/14 (UK date)