Kurdish fighters remain on offensive against ISIL

Kurdish warriors, having put up stiff resistance against assaulting ISIL's jihadi forces and engaged their foes in bitter house-to-house battles in Ain Al-Arab (Kobane) in North Syria, have reportedly gained more ground in the ongoing fighting for control of the key northern town.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the Kurds, although they lost two armored vehicles that were knocked out by the ISIL, moved forward in some districts of the town, capturing two of the jihadists' posts.
The SOHR, in a statement on Sunday, reported casualties among ISIL' ranks in ferocious fighting at various spots in the embattled town, located a stone's throw from the Syrian-Turkish border.
ISIL's fighters had been on the offensive since September 16, besieging the predominantly-Kurdish town and driving the Kurds out of most of its sectors, however, the Kurds staged counter attacks, engaging their enemies in fierce house-to-house battles, amid recurring air strikes on the jihadists by coalition military aircraft.
The fighting with automatic guns, mortars, missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and grenades, has claimed at least 600 lives and left scores of buildings in and around the town in ruins.
The monitor reported at least six bombing sorties on ISIL's positions in and around Kobane over the past hours.
Meanwhile, the official Syrian news agency, SANA, said the coalition warplanes raided oil refineries controlled by the ISIL in Deir El-Zor in northeastern Syria.
The air strikes coincided with continuing fighting between Syrian opposition groups against forces of the Syrian regime at several axes on the Syrian theatre of military operations.