Digital Globe, a high-resolution satellite imagery company, released the following image of the Turkish border where refugees are fleeing the bloodshed in Kobani, a Syrian border town currently under siege by the Islamic State.
CNN's Hala Gorani notes that the photo shows "100s of cars abandoned at Turkey border by refugees fleeing Kobani fighting."
Earlier this week the US began airdropping weapons, ammunition, and aid in Kobani to help ill-equipped Kurdish forces who are trying to counter fighters from the Islamic State (aka ISIS or ISIL) surrounding the crucial Syrian border.
"ISIS decided Kobani was important to them. This provided us with an opportunity," a senior Obama administration official said after the equipment delivery. Another official added that ISIS would "suffer significant losses for its focus on Kobani."
The US military had conducted 135 total airstrikes in Kobani, killing "hundreds" of ISIS fighters in hopes of slowing the group's advances into the city, according to US Central Command's General Lloyd Austin.
Austin described Kobani's security as "fragile," and he noted that the city could still fall to ISIS militants. Even though Kurds control approximately 70% of the city, ISIS continues to exchange fire from the east and south, said Anwar Muslim, a local government official in Kobani, reports CNN.
Kurdish commanders in Kobani have complained of the lack of coordination with the US military and a lack of resources to defeat ISIS, according to AFP. Dexter Filkins outlines the hesitation: "The history of the Kurds’ relationship with the United States is a series of swings between rescue and abandonment, and, as a consequence, between gratitude and distrust," he wrote for The New Yorker.
Here's a look at Kobani's location near the Turkey-Syria border:
Michael B. Kelley contributed to this report.
SEE ALSO: The US Is Taking Full Advantage Of ISIS Fighters Gathering Around Kobani