Pentagon: Airstrikes Alone ‘Not Going to Save the Town of Kobani’
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Digital Vision/Photodisc/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby noted on Wednesday that airstrikes over the town of Kobani, a Syrian border town, may not be enough to fend off ISIS militants.
“We all need to prepare ourselves for the reality,” Kirby said, “that other towns and villages, and perhaps Kobani, will be taken by [ISIS].” While there have been 19 airstrikes in the area over the last two days, Kirby noted that ISIS may continue making territorial gains, at least until trained moderate Syrian rebels join the battle against the militant forces.
The goal of the airstrikes, Kirby says, is to put “pressure on [ISIS] from the air,” and that the Pentagon believes those strikes “have had an effect on [ISIS] in and around that town.”
Still, “airstrikes alone are not going to do, not going to fix this, not going to save the town of Kobani,” Kirby explained, calling for “strategic patience.” The long-term solution, he said, is “good governance, good governance in Iraq and good governance in Syria.”
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