The US-led coalition fighting Islamic State (Isis) militants in Iraq and Syria carried out 12 air strikes on Saturday, according to a statement.

The Combined Joint Task Force said six strikes near the besieged Syrian town of Kobani on the Turkish border destroyed Isis buildings, fighting positions and vehicles.

In Iraq, targets including buildings, vehicles and an Isis refinery were hit in six strikes near Al Asad, Mosul, Falluja, Al Qaim and Baiji, the statement said.

A monitoring group said Isis had lost ground around Kobani, where Kurdish fighters now control more than 60% of territory. The town has become a symbol of resistance against Isis, which has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq, committing widespread atrocities.

The jihadists launched a major offensive in mid-September to try to capture Kobani, and at one point controlled more than half of the town. But supported by US-led air strikes and reinforced by Kurds from Iraq, “Kurdish forces now control more than 60% of the city”, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“Isis has even left areas that the Kurds did not enter for fear of mines,” he added.

A Kurdish activist from Kobani, Mustefa Ebdi, said Kurdish militia defending the town had advanced eastwards on the frontline during the past week. Isis has withdrawn from the seized Kurdish militia headquarters in the north of the city, as well as from southern and central districts, according to activists.

“The Kurdish advance is due largely to the air strikes by the coalition,” said Ebdi. “The jihadists are now using tunnels after failing in their tactics of car bombs and explosive belts.”

More than 1,000 people are reported to have been killed in the battle for the town, most of them jihadists.



The strikes followed 39 against Isis targets on Thursday and Friday. Strikes began in Iraq on 8 August and in Syria on 23 September.



On Thursday, the father of a Jordanian pilot who was taken prisoner by Isis fighters after his jet came down near the Syrian city of Raqqa pleaded for his son to be well-treated.

The loss of the Jordanian plane was the first suffered by the US-led coalition.