Kurdish forces took full control of the Syrian town of Kobani near the Turkish border on Monday, driving out the last group of Islamic State fighters after nearly four months of battles, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group has said.
The Syrian Kurdish forces have been backed by near daily US-led air strikes around the town, known as Ayn al-Arab in Arabic, and supported by Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces.
The town has become a symbol in the battle against Isis, who launched a campaign to capture the town in July.
Kobani official Idris Nassan said on Monday that half of the town had been completely destroyed and much of the rest of it had suffered damage, leaving many homeless. He said the town lacked water, electricity, hospitals and food.
