It was just one month ago that the Western Kurdistan militias (YPG and YPJ) declared their victory over the Islamic State (IS) in Kobanê, the city turned into a symbol of resistance against jihadism. The IS, which launched a major offensive against Kobanê in September 2014, came to control the entire canton of Kobanê and almost three quarters of the city. The Kurdish resistance, with the support of some units of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the airstrikes of the United States-led coalition, managed to drive out the Islamists from Kobanê on 26th-27th January. And just after that, they launched an offensive meant to regain control over the entire canton. One month later, the YPG-YPJ and their FSA allies are in control of almost all the territories they held prior to the jihadist offensive. And indeed, as can see on the map below, the Kurds have even gone further in the southern front.

The Kurdish forces are now less than 10 km from an important city located right on the border between Syria and Turey: Girê Spî (Tel Abyad in Arabic), where the Islamic State is concentrating fighters and weapons as they fear that the YPG-YPJ could start an assault. Girê Spî has a mixed population of Kurds and Arabs, and is an important location for West Kurdistan: control over it could give the Kurds the opportunity to phisically connect the canton of Kobanê and the canton of Cizîrê, to the east.

The YPG have had this in mind at least since 2013. That year, YPG spokesman Redur Xelil was enough explicit to say that "of course, liberating Tel Abyad is included in the YPG plans. I want to be clear that when the time and conditions are right, we will liberate Tel Abyad, too." YPG commander Mahmud Berxwedan insisted today that the Kurdish militias "will liberate all the Kurdish villages" that are currently in IS hands.

In order to connect both cantons, the YPG-YPJ also need to control Arab-majority rural areas. In fact, in the east of the Kobanê canton, the YPG-YPJ are already in control as some Arab villages. The cantons of West Kurdistan insist that their political project is not just for the Kurds, but also for other communities inhabiting northern Syria, including the Arabs. In the canton of Cizîrê, Arabic has been declared an official language, alongside Kurdish and Assyrian.

In Cizîrê, the YPG-YPJ are slowly progressing westwards towards the canton of Kobanê. To the southeast of Qamislo, YPG-YPJ progress is also being report. Earlier today, the Kurdish forces said they have taken Tel Hamis from IS, which follows some recent Kurdish progress around the Jazah area. These operations are important to ensure that the Islamic State can no longer attack the Sinjar region in South Kurdistan (Iraq) through the Syrian-Iraqi border.

Thousands of families back to Kobanê

Meanwhile, reconstruction efforts have started in the city of Kobanê, after four consecutive months of street-by-street fighting. Some 6,000 families are back in the city, as reported by Kurdish radio NRT. Most people having escaped IS siege on Kobanê took refuge in North Kurdistan (Turkey).

Furthermore, thousands of volunteers are working to clean the city from rubble. The Kobanê authorities are requesting international assistance to rebuild the city.