US drops supplies to forces fighting ISIS

U.S. forces made multiple airdrops to the beleaguered Syrian city of Kobani on Sunday night to resupply Kurdish forces battling the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Three American planes dropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq and then left the area without encountering any resistance, U.S. Central Command said late on Sunday evening.

{mosads}According to a senior administration official, the “vast majority” of the 27 bundles of supplies dropped from the air made it successfully into Kurdish hands.

“The forces fighting on the ground have been on a tough fight for a number of weeks now, and it certainly came to our attention that they have been running low on supplies,” a second senior administration official told reporters.

Kobani, which sits along the Syrian border with Turkey, has become an epicenter of violence between Kurdish forces and ISIS, the terrorist group that has won control of a large swath of Syria and Iraq.

In all, American forces have conducted more than 135 airstrikes against ISIS in the city of Kobani, Centcom said, in a mission that has been dubbed Operation Inherent Resolve.

American forces have seen ISIS “surge its resources towards Kobani,” the second senior administration official said.

“That frankly presented an opportunity,” they added.

“As ISIL has finite resources, we look to any opportunity to take out those resources and degrade the organization, and that’s exactly what Centcom is doing,” the official said, using an alternate name for ISIS.

Airstrikes and airdropped resupplies have been critical to supporting and complementing Kurdish forces on the ground, who have been “impressive” in their fight against ISIS, the official said.

Still, U.S. Central Command Army Gen. Lloyd Austin said on Friday that it is “highly possible” that the city could be overwhelmed by ISIS. 

The United States is not necessarily planning future airdrops to aid the Kurdish forces, but “we’ll be doing what’s necessary,” the official said.