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IS fighters acknowledge defeat in Syrian town of Kobani

FILE - This Nov. 20, 2014 file photo shows an area controlled by the Islamic State group, past the Qada Azadi roundabout, foreground, in Kobani, Syria. Kurdish fighters backed by intense U.S.-led airstrikes pushed the Islamic State group almost entirely out of the Syrian town of Kobani on Monday, Jan. 26, 2015, marking a major loss for extremists whose hopes for easy victory dissolved into a bloody, costly siege that seems close to ending in defeat. (AP Photo/Jake Simkin, File) FILE - This Nov. 20, 2014 file photo shows an area controlled by the Islamic State group, past the Qada Azadi roundabout, foreground, in Kobani, Syria. Kurdish fighters backed by intense U.S.-led airstrikes pushed the Islamic State group almost entirely out of the Syrian town of Kobani on Monday, Jan. 26, 2015, marking a major loss for extremists whose hopes for easy victory dissolved into a bloody, costly siege that seems close to ending in defeat. (AP Photo/Jake Simkin, File)

By Associated Press January 31, 2015 1 min read

BEIRUT (AP) – Members of the Islamic State group have acknowledged for the first time that they were defeated in the Syrian town of Kobani.

In a video released by the pro-IS Aamaq News Agency late Friday, two fighters said airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition were the main reason why they were forced to withdraw from Kobani.

On Monday, activists and Kurdish officials said the town was cleared of IS fighters, who once held nearly half of the town.

The failure to capture Kobani was a major blow to the extremists, whose hopes for an easy victory dissolved into a costly siege under withering airstrikes by coalition forces and an assault by Kurdish militiamen.