Siege of Kobanî

Siege of Kobanî
Part of the Syrian Civil War,
Rojava-Islamist conflict,
and the American-led intervention in the Syrian Civil War

A map showing the progression of the siege of Kobanî, from October 2014 to January 2015
Date15 September 2014 – 20 March 2015
(6 months and 1 week)
Location
Kobanî (Ayn al-Arab), Kobanî Canton, Syria
Result Rojava Federation victory[9]
Territorial
changes
  • IS initially captured 350 villages and towns in the Kobanî Canton[10] and entered Kobanî city by early October 2014,[11] seizing 60% of it by early November 2014[12]
  • YPG-led forces recapture the whole of Kobanî city in late January 2015,[13] and almost all of the villages previously lost in the Kobanî region by mid-March 2015[14]
  • 70% of Kobanî city was destroyed in the battle[15]
  • YPG-led forces launch an offensive on Sarrin on 20 March 2015[16]
  • Turning point in coalition Rojava-Islamist conflict, and eventual military destruction of IS-held territory
Belligerents

Rojava
PKK[1]
Kurdistan Region (from 30 October)[2][3]
Free Syrian Army[4]
CJTF-OIR

Islamic State
Commanders and leaders
Salih Muslim Muhammad[17]
Narin Afrin[18]
Mahmud Berxwedan[19]
Ismet Sheikh Hassan[20]
Meryem Kobani[21]
Hebun Sinya  †[22]
Faisal Saadoun ("Abu Layla")[23][24]
Muhammad Mustafa Ali ("Abu Adel")[25]
Hasan al-Banawi ("Abu Juma")
(from 18 November 2014)[26]
Abdul Qader Sheikh Muhammad ("Abdo Dushka")[27]
Saleh Ali ("Abu Furat") †[28]
Nizar al-Khatib ("Abu Laith")
(until 18 November 2014)[29]

Abu Ayman al-Iraqi (Head of Military Shura)[30]
Abu Ali al-Anbari
(Deputy, Syria)
Abu Omar al-Shishani
(Field commander in Syria)[31][32]
Abdul Nasser Qardash[33] (Deputy emir of the Delegated Committee)[34]
Abu Ali al-Askari † (IS senior commander)[35]
Abu Mohammed al-Masri † (IS senior commander)[35]
Abu Khattab al-Kurdi †
(Commander)[35]
Othman al-Nazih †[36]
Sultan al-Safri al-Harbi †
Hassan Aboud

Akhmed Chatayev
Units involved
  • Euphrates Volcano
    • YPG
    • YPJ
    • Dawn of Freedom Brigades[38]
      • Northern Sun Battalion
    • Kurdish Front[19]
    • Raqqa Revolutionaries' Brigade[39]
    • Retribution Army
    • Jarabulus Company[24][40]
  • PKK
    • HPG
    • YJA STAR
  • United Freedom Forces[44]
  • People's Liberation Faction (until January 2015)[45][46]
  • Military of IS
    • Wilayat Halab
Strength

1,500–2,000 YPG & YPJ (Kurdish claims as of 1 November 2014)[50]
600 PKK[51]
300 FSA (originally)[52]

50[53]–200[54] FSA (reinforcements)		 9,000+ fighters (Kurdish claims)[55]
30–50 MBTs[56]
2 UAVs[57][58]
Casualties and losses
YPG & YPJ:
562[59]–741[60] killed
(3 MLKP)[42]
FSA and Jabhat al-Akrad:
29[59]–72[19][61] killed
Peshmerga:
1 killed (accident)[62][63]		 1,422[*][59]–2,000[64] killed (per SOHR)
2,000+[**] killed (per U.S.)[65]
1,068–5,000[**] killed,[66][67][68]
18 tanks destroyed[62][69]
2 drones shot down (per Kurds)[58]
Hundreds of civilians killed[59][70]
Over 400,000 civilians fled to Turkey[71]
* Additional hundreds of deaths by airstrikes[72]
** 1,000+ by US-led Coalition airstrikes[73]

The siege of Kobanî was launched by the Islamic State (IS) on 13 September 2014,[74] in order to capture the Kobanî Canton and its main city of Kobanî (also known as Kobanê or Ayn al-Arab) in northern Syria, in the de facto autonomous region of Rojava.

By 2 October 2014, IS succeeded in capturing 350 Kurdish villages and towns in the vicinity of Kobanê,[75] generating a wave of some 300,000 Kurdish refugees, who fled across the border into Turkey's Şanlıurfa Province.[76] By January 2015, the number had risen to 400,000.[71] The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and some Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions (under the Euphrates Volcano joint operations room), Peshmerga of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and American and US-allied Arab militaries' airstrikes began to recapture Kobane.[77]

On 26 January 2015, the YPG and its allies, backed by the continued US-led airstrikes, began to retake the city, driving IS into a steady retreat. The city of Kobanê was fully recaptured on 27 January; however, most of the remaining villages in the Kobanê Canton remained under IS control.[13][78] The YPG and its allies then made rapid advances in rural Kobanî, with IS withdrawing 25 km from the city of Kobanî by 2 February.[79][80] By late April 2015, IS had been driven out of almost all of the villages it had captured in the Canton, but maintained control of a few dozen villages it seized in the northwestern part of the Raqqa Governorate.[14] In late June 2015, IS launched a new offensive against the city, killing at least 233 civilians,[81][82] but were quickly driven back.

The battle for Kobanî was considered a turning point in the war against Islamic State.[83] The siege was referred by some to be the "Kurdish Stalingrad".[84][85]

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  61. ^ 2 killed 13 March (see the Retaking the Kobanî Canton section)
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  69. ^ 2 tanks destroyed on 26 February (see the Retaking the Kobanî Canton section
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