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Reversing Course on U.S. Soldiers Wearing Kurdish Rebel Insignia On Thursday, the Defense Department said that in order to blend in, special-operation forces often don the insignia of forces they accompany. On Friday, after Turkey complained, a spokesman called the action “unauthorized and inappropriate.” KRISHNADEV CALAMUR MAY 27, 2016 Updated on May 27 at 2:31 p.m. ET The U.S. Defense Department has ordered American special-operations forces to take down the insignia of a Kurdish rebel group that Turkey regards as a terrorist organization—after angry complaints from Ankara and despite justifying the patches a day earlier. “Wearing those YPG patches was...

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported today that at least 100 Islamic State fighters have been killed during just three days of fighting in and around the Kurdish city of Kobane. The monitoring group said that the deaths bring the current number of ISIS fighters killed in the conflict there to 576 since September 16. “Over the last three days, at least 100 members of ISIS and its religious police have been killed… in Kobani and its surroundings,” the Observatory said in a statement Saturday. The men killed were reportedly reinforcements brought from Aleppo and ISIS’s de-facto capital Raqqa,...

The battle for the key Syrian city of Kobane between Kurdish forces supported by a U.S.-led coalition and terror group ISIS has led to the deaths of over 800 people in the past 40 days, a Syrian monitoring group said Sunday. The real death toll is feared to be twice as high, however. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that it could document the deaths of 815 individuals, with more than half, or 481 of them, belonging to ISIS. Militants died in ambushes, bombardments, targeted vehicles, and other clashes in the battle near the Turkish border. At least 16...

A UN official warned of pending "humanitarian tragedies" and pleaded desperately with the world to intervene on behalf of Kurds trapped in a Syrian city near the Turkish border, as Islamic State fighters stood on the brink of taking it. Kurds from villages throughout northern Syria have fled to Kobani for a final stand as the terrorist group has marauded across huge swaths of land, leaving a trail of death and destruction. With the city under siege for three weeks, the black-clad fighters have begun to raise their flag over neighborhoods and UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura...

The Islamic State continues its advance towards the Kurdish of city Kobane in northern Syria. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that the Islamic State has gained control of "325 villages and towns" in the vicinity of Ayn al Arab (the Arabic name for Kobane). As the group moves closer to Kobane, more Kurdish citizens are fleeing for the Turkish border. Around 150,000 Kurdish refugees are reported to have fled to Turkey since this assault began two weeks ago. Refugees spoken to by NBC talk of food being scarce, electricity being cut, and little outside support for Syrian...