Syrian Kurds battle IS as US steps up air war
The Kurds are bidding to repel a major offensive the extremist group launched Monday against villages in the northern provinces of Raqa and Hasakeh.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said about 80 IS fighters had been killed since Sunday morning in the fighting and US-led air strikes.
Obama said Monday night the US-led coalition fighting the jihadist group -- also known as ISIL -- would step up its campaign in Syria, while cautioning a long battle remained.
"We're intensifying our efforts against ISIL's base in Syria. Our air strikes will continue to target the oil and gas facilities that fund so much of their operations," he said.
The group's "strategic weaknesses are real," he said, noting it has no air force and no support from any nation.
But he cautioned the fight would likely face "setbacks" and would not be quick.
"This is a long-term campaign," he said.
"In many places in Syria and Iraq, it's dug in among an innocent civilian population. It will take time to root them out."
He said more than 5,000 air strikes had been carried out against the group, eliminating "thousands of fighters, including senior ISIL commanders".
In recent days, the US-led coalition has bombarded IS in a series of heavy raids, particularly targeting its de facto Syrian capital Raqa.
On Saturday night and Sunday morning, nearly 30 IS fighters were reported killed in US-led strikes in and around the city, with infrastructure including bridges also destroyed.
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said the raids were intended to help Kurdish forces, rather than target particular IS figures.
- IS fightback -
Since the US-led raids in Syria began last September, they have been key to helping Kurdish forces repel IS and recapture territory.
In January, Kurds secured the symbolic border town of Kobane after four months of IS attempts to overrun it.
And in recent weeks, they seized back the key town of Tal Abyad, depriving IS of a conduit through which it transported weapons and fighters.
But IS has fought back, launching a major offensive against Kurds on Monday in parts of northern Raqa province and northwestern Hasakeh province.
The Observatory said the jihadists took the town of Ain Issa, about 55 kilometres (34 miles) from Raqa, but Kurdish officials and activists said the extremists had been repelled.
"There are still some pockets in the south of the town," activist Mustafa Ebdi said, adding the anti-IS forces were being backed by US-led strikes.
"There are dozens of jihadist bodies on the battlefield."
The Kurds reclaimed more than 10 villages elsewhere in Raqa and Hasakeh that were briefly overrun during the IS offensive, the Observatory said.
"The coalition aircraft have played an effective role in the recapture," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding heavy fighting raged in the two provinces.
- Priest feared kidnapped -
Elsewhere, the Observatory said six children were among at least eight people were killed in regime strikes on the Naseeb area in the southern province of Daraa.
The Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land said it feared one of its priests had been kidnapped, possibly by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, in the northwestern province of Idlib.
It had lost contact with Father Dhiya Aziz, from the Christian village of Yacoubieh, on Saturday.
"Some militants of an unknown armed brigade, perhaps connected with (Al-Nusra), came to take him away for a brief interview with the emir (leader) of the place.
"From that moment we do not have any more news and we are unable to trace his whereabouts at the present moment. We are doing everything possible to locate the place of his detention and secure his release."
Christians once made up five percent of Syria's population, but many have fled since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011, particularly with the rising presence of jihadists.
In Damascus, state media said the parliament had approved a deal under which Tehran will extend Syria a $1 billion credit line, the third the key ally has offered since the war began.
AFP
