Iraq's military has halted ISIS forces just 40 kilometers outside of Baghdad. Iraqi government air-strikes Sept. 28 held the jihadist fighters at Ameriyat al-Fallujah, a strategic town west of Baghdad and south of ISIS-controlled Fallujah. But panic spread in the capital as rumors circulated of ISIS attacks in the capital's immediate suburbs. Reports indicate some 1,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed in the offensive over the weekend. (Rudaw [8]) Meanwhile, ISIS advanced to within three kilometers of the Kurdish town of Kobani [9] in northern Syria. Kobani official Idriss Nassan appealed to the outside world for urgent assistance: "We need help. We need weapons. We need more effective air-strikes. If the situation stays like this, we will see a massacre. I can't imagine what will happen if ISIS gets inside Kobani." (CNN [10])
The town's YPG [9] defenders report that US air-strikes on ISIS positions outside Kobani on Sept. 27 have had some effect, driving the jihadist forces from several outlying villages they had occupied. (Rudaw [11]) Since then, however, the US has instead struck ISIS-controlled oil fields in eastern Syria. France also participated in the strikes on the Tink and Qouriyeh oil installations in Deir el-Zour governorate. (Syria Deeply [12])
Turkish border guards opened fire on displaced Kurds in the border village of Tal ash-Shair on Sept. 26, kiling two. Turkish troops appear to be attacking both Kurdish refugeees attempting to flee ISIS as well as Kurdish fighters attmepting to cross into Syria to come to the defense of Kobani. (Syrian Observer [13])
