In Kobane, IS takes a pounding, but holds on

(The Christian Science Monitor) U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Iraq have allowed the Iraqi Army, Kurdish peshmerga fighters, and their allies to reclaim territory lost to a spring and summer offensive of the self-described Islamic State.

But in the Syrian city of Kobane, where Syrian Kurds and their allies have been fighting IS forces with dogged determination since September with the support of airstrikes, the gains have been especially slow. Despite losing fighters by the hundreds, the IS has proved difficult to stamp out, maintaining a solid foothold in the frontier town.

IS has also kept a grip on 381 villages in the wider district, villages the jihadi group seized with alarming speed in September, sparking an exodus of 200,000 people to Turkey. That offensive pushed the coalition to reconsider its strategy against IS in Syria and drew in reinforcements from Iraqi Kurdistan.