Assault on Kobane

On July 2, 2014, following the conquer of Mosul and large regions of north-western Iraq, the Kurdish region of Kobanê (Arabic: عين العرب‎, Ayn Al-Arab) in central northern Syria bordering Turkey was viciously attacked by Islamic State aka ISIS forces with tanks and heavy weapons brought over from Iraq. According to Kurdish sources, ISIS has fired more than 3,000 mortars in four days.

The pattern and the involvement of Turkey follows what has been seen in the eastern part of Syrian Kurdistan since late 2012 with the Assault on Ras Al-Ayn. The border regions with Turkey both west and east of Kobane canton are already controlled by ISIS, including the border posts at Jarablus and Tal Abyad (see Syrian Military Maps). In an "urgent call" for help to the international community on July 6, the Kurdish National Congress (of Syrian Kurdistan) pointed out that the attackers are able to move freely across the border and in Turkey, while the army is turning a blind eye and wounded ISIS fighters are even treated in Turkish hospitals.

By July 8, Kurdish officials were speaking of at least one village reclaimed (Zormixar), and 200 ISIS fighters killed, with no word on their own losses. On the same day, Kurdish news agency Firat put the number of killed ISIS fighters at 270, with 21 YPG fighters and one civilian dead on their side.

Kidnapped Students
Rudaw reported
 * They also reported that ISIS was holding hostage hundreds of civilians in Jarablus and Tall Abyad. These include 130 Kurdish students seized as they were returning from school examinations in Aleppo. Despite an international outcry, ISIS has refused to free them in the hope of using them to put pressure on the YPG.

These were actually kidnapped earlier, but most are from Kobane. McClatchy reports:
 * An estimated 148 Kurdish students kidnapped by Islamic militants in northeastern Syria while traveling to their final exams in late May remain in the hands of the extremists, who are subjecting the children to intensive attempts to radicalize them, leaving parents concerned that some of the students will join the radicals. ... "It seems like ISIS is trying to use the children as a bargaining chip to pressure YPG," said Civiroglu. "Families also worry that their children may be brainwashed and used in suicide attacks."

Irony note in the June article:
 * Human Rights Watch released a report last week accusing the YPG and PKK military and political groups of a litany of human rights abuses against the Arab population of northern Syria, which it is competing against for territory in civil war-torn Syria, and against ISIL prisoners and even Kurdish political dissidents.

On July 1, one month after their abduction, Human Rights Watch released a statement demanding the release of the remaining 133 young hostages (after 15 were released days earlier in an apparent deal with the YPG).
 * The top education official in Ain al-`Arab, Hussein Mohammad Ali, told Human Rights Watch that at least 1,000 students, ages 13 to 18, travelled to Aleppo in buses and mini-buses, along with some teachers. ISIS allowed the convoy to proceed to Aleppo, but stopped the first group that returned – 13 and 14 year-olds from the ninth grade – in the ISIS-controlled town of Manbij, Ali and the two other local officials said. There ISIS fighters separated the boys from the girls and sent the girls home with the drivers.