US airdrops arms to Kurds fighting against ISIL in Kobani

The US military says its cargo aircraft successfully airdropped arms and ammunition to Kurds fighting against ISIL terrorists in the northern Syrian city of Kobani.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement that three C-130 transport planes conducted airdrops of small-arms weapons, ammunition and medical supplies in the vicinity of Kobani on Sunday.

It said the airdrops, which have been provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq, were "intended to enable continued resistance against ISIL's attempts to overtake Kobani."

The CENTCOM also said that American fighter jets have carried out more than 135 airstrikes against ISIL in Kobani since early October.

"Combined with continued resistance to ISIL on the ground, indications are that these strikes have slowed ISIL advances into the city, killed hundreds of their fighters and destroyed or damaged scores of pieces of ISIL combat equipment and fighting positions," it said.

Kobani and its surroundings have been under attack since mid-September, with the ISIL militants capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages.

The ISIL advance in the region has forced tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds to flee into Turkey, which is a stone’s throw from Kobani.

Turkey continues to block any delivery of military, medical or humanitarian assistance into Kobani where the ISIL terrorists are feared to be aiming at massive bloodletting.

This comes as the US and its Arab allies have been backing ISIL as a tool to put more pressure on the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The group has committed heinous crimes in Syria and Iraq, where they have seized large swathes of land.