A Small Victory in Syria as the Islamic State Gets Stronger – Editorial
(dailyalert.org, Jan. 28,  2015)

The apparently successful defense of the Kurdish town of Kobane, on the Syrian-Turkish border, came to be seen as a test of whether the U.S. and its allies could stop the expansion of the Islamic State. Kobane consumed 75% of the nearly 1,000 airstrikes carried out by allied planes throughout Syria since September. In the rest of the Syrian territory it controls, the Islamic State faces little pressure from Western airstrikes and is growing stronger rather than weaker. (Washington Post)