U.S.-Led Airstrikes Target ISIS Targets in Kobani, Aleppo, Hassakeh and Raqqa

The U.S.-led coalition launched 12 airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria on Monday, the Daily Star reports, amid indications that the group had lost ground in the Syrian-Kurdish border town of Kobani, also known as Ain al-Arab.

“In Syria, the dozen strikes centered around the border town of Ain al-Arab as well as in Aleppo, Hassakeh and Raqqa provinces, destroying various fighting positions, vehicles and a group of fighters,” according to a statement by the Combined Joint Task Force.

Over the weekend Kurdish fighters captured a cultural center in Kobani, which activists on the ground say “is very important morally and militarily” because of its location on “a hill that overlooks neighborhoods east and southeast of the town.”

ISIS launched an offensive on Kobani in mid-September, sparking an exodus of refugees into southern Turkey.

Regime Strike Hits School Bus in Idlib Province

At least four children were killed and 10 wounded when a regime airstrike hit a school bus near the village of Jubass in Idlib province, Al Arabiya reports.

Most of those wounded and killed were under the age of 10, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“The toll could rise as there are serious injuries,” the monitor said.

Jabhat al-Nusra controls large swaths of Idlib province and now holds two strategic military bases. The group has warded off advances by rival rebel groups in recent weeks.

Syrian Government Authorizes Medical Supply Delivery to Rebel-Held Aleppo

The Syrian government has authorized the delivery of medical supplies to opposition-held areas of Aleppo, AFP reports, citing the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to WHO official Elizabeth Hoff, the regime has also indicated that it would grant access to eastern Ghouta, just outside the capital, and the Damascus district of Mouadamiya.

In recent weeks U.N. officials have been calling for a cease-fire in Aleppo, in an attempt to cease the fighting and allowing the delivery of much needed humanitarian aid.

“We have had some constraints in the past with delivering surgical supplies, syringes, but the situation is much better at the moment,” said Hoff. “Vaccines will be included in deliveries to Eastern Ghouta, which has been closed for a long time,” Hoff added.

According to U.N. estimates, at least 240,000 people are besieged by either government or opposition forces, while 4.7 million are in areas it defines as “hard to reach.”

Lebanon Holds Seven Over Syrian Political Abductions

“Seven people suspected of abducting members of Syria’s opposition in Lebanon and turning them over to the Damascus regime have been arrested,” AFP reports.

According to security officials, all seven were members of the Baath Party, including a Baath official from the Bekaa region of eastern Lebanon bordering Syria.

The official confessed to kidnapping a member of the Syrian rebel group Ahrar al-Sharm, and is suspected of abducting Syrian opposition member and handing over a sheikh to the Syrian authorities.

The Syrian conflict has deeply divided Lebanon between supporters and opponents of the Assad regime. It is now home to over a million Syrian refugees, who make up a quarter of it’s population.

The Syria crisis has cost Lebanon more than $20 billion, Lebanon’s social affairs minister told AFP on Monday.

The official, Rashid Derbas, said that a large portion of the international aid pledged to help Lebanon deal with the crisis had yet to materialize.

“We have received just half of the amount promised for 2013 and only 44 percent this year,” Derbas said.

Recommended Reads:

• Huffington Post: The Forgetting
• Reuters: Satellite Images Show 290 Heritage Sites in Syria Damaged by War
• Daily Star: U.S. Pounds ISIS in Syria and Iraq with 22 Airstrikes