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Airstrikes Not Enough to Quash Islamic State: Reports

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Idris Nassan, who acts as the foreign minister of Kobani, said that the airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) are not enough, The Guardian reported Sunday.

MOSCOW, October 5 (RIA Novosti) - Idris Nassan, who acts as the foreign minister of Kobani, said that the airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) are not enough, The Guardian reported Sunday.

"Airstrikes alone are really not enough to defeat ISIS in Kobani," Nassan told The Guardian. "They are besieging the city on three sides, and fighter jets simply cannot hit each and every Isis fighter on the ground."

According to the official, IS militants have neared Kobani, a city in Syria's Aleppo Governorate which the Kurdish People's Protection Units took control of in 2012 as a result of the civil war in Syria.

According to the official, ground support should be in place along with the airstrikes since the militants have developed special tactics helping them to escape the strikes.

"Each time a jet approaches they leave their open positions, they scatter and hide. What we really need is ground support. We need heavy weapons and ammunition in order to fend them off and defeat them," The Guardian quoted Nissan as saying.

Airstrikes started to be launched against the Islamic state on September 15 by the United States, with other countries such as France and the United Kingdom joining later in the airstrike coalition to quash the militant group.

The IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, the group extended its attacks to northern and western Iraq, declaring a caliphate on the territories over which it had control.

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