ORDER OF BATTLE // September 15, 2014
Siege of Kobanî
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 10,500–11,000 estimated
Rojava
1,500–2,000
Medium-confidence figure
Islamic State
9,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Islamic State launched the siege of Kobanî in September 2014 with the objective of capturing the Kobanî Canton, a key administrative unit of the de facto autonomous region of Rojava in northern Syria. The assault represented a direct challenge to the Kurdish self-governance experiment in Rojava, pitting a defending force of roughly 1,500–2,000 fighters against an attacking Islamic State force estimated at 9,000. The engagement drew sustained international attention to IS's campaign to consolidate territorial control across northern Syria, and the scale of the attacking force relative to the defenders underscored the existential pressure on Rojava's political project. IS suffered recorded losses of over 1,400 fighters during the course of the siege, a figure that reflected the intensity and duration of the fighting in the urban terrain of the city.
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