Low in weapon supplies, facing mounting efforts by Isil’s harmed jihadist fighters to enter Kobane – and as yet unsupported by air strikes, Mr Kharaba and the other rebel groups devised ever more elaborate plots to stop the advance “There was an empty hospital to the east of the city that we had occupied,” said Mr Kharaba. “The FSA and the Kurds escaped it and Isil immediately overran it. They were triumphant, thinking they had conquered our main base.