Syrian Kurds push IS forces further from Kobani

Kurdish militia backed by U.S.-led air strikes are making rapid advances against Islamic State forces in rural areas around Kobani after driving the group from the Syrian border town last week, the Kurdish militia and a monitoring group said on Monday.

A spokesman for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said Islamic State forces were collapsing around Kobani. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamic State fighters were putting up little resistance in the face of the Kurdish advance and may be pushed back even further.

The battle for Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab, became a focal point for the U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State in Syria. The Syrian Kurds, who also received military support from Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces, drove IS fighters from the town last week.

Islamic State controls wide areas of northern and eastern Syria, including a strip of territory across the northern Aleppo countryside and a corridor stretching southeast from Raqqa province to the border with Iraq.

Although the town has little strategic value, the battle for Kobani marked the first example of direct U.S. support for ground forces fighting Islamic State in Syria.