Commander: ‘Highly possible’ that Kobani will fall to ISIS

The commander of the U.S.-led military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) sought to manage expectations Friday in his first press briefing since military action began in August.

With ISIS advancing on the Kurdish town of Kobani on the Turkish-Syrian border, the commander of U.S. Central Command Army Gen. Lloyd Austin said the coalition’s focus is on fighting ISIS in Iraq, not in Syria.

{mosads}”Iraq is our main effort, and it has to be. And the things that we’re doing right now in Syria are being done primarily to shape the conditions in Iraq,” Austin said.

Austin downplayed efforts to prevent the fall of Kobani, saying that increased coalition airstrikes there in recent days were due to poor weather for airstrikes in Iraq and the convenience of attacking ISIS fighters massed near Kobani.

“The enemy has made a decision to make Kobani his main effort,” he said. “The more I attrit him there, the less I have to fight him on some other part of the battlefield.”

Austin said it’s “highly possible that Kobani may fall,” although he added that there has been progress by some Kurdish fighters there regaining lost territory.

Austin said the strategy, based on airstrikes and training local Iraqi and Syrian forces instead of deploying U.S. ground forces into combat, was not flawed.

“The administration all along has been clear that, you know, this is not doable just from the air,” he said.

However, he could not give a timeline as to when Iraqi and moderate Syrian rebels would be trained and ready to fight ISIS.

“We must maintain strategic patience going forward. The campaign to destroy ISIL will take time and there will be occasional setbacks along the way,” he said, using an alternate acronym for the group.

“The campaign is on the right track,” he said. “We’re doing the right things, and we’re having the right — creating the right effects.”

 “The administration all along has been clear that, you know, this is not doable just from the air,” he said, adding that he was confident Iraqi and Syrian forces could be trained to get the job done.