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Kurdish Fighter Returns to Decimated Syrian City

Musa, a 25-year-old Kurdish marksman, stands atop a building as he looks at the destroyed Syrian city of Kobani.
Image: Musa, a 25-year-old Kurdish marksman, stands atop a building
Musa, a 25-year-old Kurdish marksman, stands atop a building as he looks at the destroyed Syrian town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, on January 30, 2015.BULENT KILIC / AFP - Getty Images

Musa, a 25-year-old Kurdish marksman, stands atop a building as he looks at the destroyed Syrian city of Kobani on Friday. Kurdish forces recaptured the town on the Turkish frontier on January 26, in a symbolic blow to the ISIS militants who have seized large swathes of territory in their onslaught across Syria and Iraq.

American air strikes killed more than 1,000 Islamic State members in and around Kobani, including major figures in the militia's command structure and many of its most battle-hardened fighters, a senior State Department official said. Kurdish peshmerga forces and Syrian rebels were able to reverse momentum on the ground by reaching Kobani through Turkey, a corridor established after much U.S.-Turkish diplomacy.