Obama team: Success against Islamic State in Kobani
President Obama says local fighters are winning the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and officials are pointing to a string of successes in and around the town of Kobani.
Kurdish forces and Syrian rebel allies have seized a belt of villages around Kobani, days after recapturing the town that over the past year was seen as a symbol of success for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
Obama has not cited the Kobani operation by name, but told NBC's Today show this week that "what we have seen is both the Iraqi security forces and Kurdish forces continue to push back against ISIL."
Over the past years, critics have cited Islamic State control of Kobani to question the administration's strategy, which involves U.S.-led air power and the training of local forces to carry the fight on the ground. Kobani is located near the Syria-Turkey border.
"We haven't been able to drive ISIS out of a town called Kobani using the full weight or using American air power for several months now," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told CNN last month.
In the Today show interview, Obama said he will not commit U.S. ground forces to the battle against the Islamic State, but rather help local populations develop their own military capacity.
"We are doing exactly what we should be doing to make sure that, while we are pushing back ISIL, we are not creating another situation in which we are deploying massive numbers of U.S. troops," Obama said.
The Associated Press reports on the battles in and around Kobani:
"(Islamic State) militants overran large parts of Kobani and surrounding areas in mid-September, forcing tens of thousands of Kurds to flee to neighboring Turkey. For months Kurdish forces fought to retake Kobani, assisted by airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition.
"The battle was seen as a major test of whether the airstrikes could halt the extremists' advance across Syria and neighboring Iraq.
"The Islamic State group has blamed coalition airstrikes for its defeat in Kobani."