Operation Featherweight: Month 6, Week 4, Day 7.

For 134 days battle has raged between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) for control of the strategically important city of Kobane/Ayn al-Arab which sits just 1km (0.6 miles) from Syria's northern border with Turkey. For several long weeks at the start of October it appeared that Kobane was just hours away from being over-run and all it's Kurdish residents exterminated.

Today the Battle for Kobane has finally been won.

In my post last Monday (19/1/15) I said that ISIL occupied only around of 15-25% of Kobane. However because they could only confirm their control of 70-75% of the city the YPG were being more cautious in their assessment. On that Monday the YPG mounted small, successful operations to clear ISIL fighters from positions around Dibistana Resh on the eastern front and around Kobane hospital on the southern front.

On the Tuesday (20/1/15) the YPG mounted a much larger operation on the southern front to clear the remaining ISIL positions from around the hospital and the Kobane to Aleppo road. This operation was a complete success and without losing any fighters the YPG cleared the entire area. At the same time they mounted another large operation in the south-east of the city from Mishteneur Hill which they'd liberated two days before up through the 48 neighbourhood to the 48 road where they linked up with fighters who'd been advancing on the eastern front. Again without sustaining any loss of life this operation was a complete success and with it the YPG succeeded in liberating the entire southern front from ISIL control.

On Wednesday (21/1/15) the YPG continued operations to clear ISIL positions around Dibistana Resh in the Sukul Hal district. Unfortunately on the south-east front ISIL succeeded in mounting a small counter-attack in an effort to reverse their losses of the previous day. This counter-attack was quickly and successfully repelled but not before two YPG fighters lost their lives.

On Thursday (22/1/15) the YPG cleared the last of the ISIL positions around Dibistana Resh and discovered there were no further ISIL positions between it and Dibistana Serica which was already under YPG control. With the two Dibistans linked it became clear that the YPG had succeeded in liberating the entire southern part of the eastern front all the way from Mishteneur Hill, through the 48 neighbourhood up to the Sukul Hal district. The YPG also launched commando raids in the villages of Minaz and Alipur in an effort to push ISIL even further back from the ridge that sits to Kobane's west.

On Friday (23/1/15) there was a similar collapse by ISIL fighters which allowed the YPG to liberate much of the northern section of the eastern front from the Sukul Hal district up to the Sinai district. The YPG were also able to advance into two streets in the Sinai district amid heavy resistance in which two YPG fighters lost their lives.

On Saturday (24/1/15) the YPG concentrated on liberating the villages of Mermit and Termlik which sit to the south of Kobane while they planned their assault on the Sinai district. That assault began on Sunday (25/1/15) and following more then 24 hours of fierce fighting the YPG were able to confirm this afternoon that the last ISIL positions in Kobane had been over-run and the battle had been won.

Obviously this is a huge victory for the YPG in a long battle that will surely go down in the history books as an outstanding example of the triumph of overwhelming heroism and a pure stubborn refusal to die against overwhelming odds. However it does not mean that the YPG's job in the Kobane canton is at an end. First they must clear the freshly liberated areas of mines and booby traps. Then they must continue to push out to liberate the villages to establish a buffer-zone around Kobane while establishing a defensive perimeter and a safe-zone. Then in the coming weeks and months Kurdish refugees can slowly begin to return to Kobane where they know they will be safe.

Ironically Turkey today opened a vast and semi-permanent camp to house up to 35,000 refugees just across the border from Kobane in Suruc. So I guess ISIL weren't the only ones to underestimate the Kurds.

20:30 on 26/1/15 (UK date).