LATEST: US Tries to Tighten Sanctions on Both Assad Regime & Insurgency’s Jabhat al-Nusra

UPDATE 1500 GMT: The Islamic State has attacked the Syrian side of the border crossing near Kobane with heavy mortar fire, according to Kurdish official Idris Nassen.

The crossing with Turkey is the Kurdish fighters’ sole route for resupply and the only escape route for civilians.

Nassen said the jihadists launched a fierce attack from the east towards the border gate before being pushed back.

There are conflicting reports on Saturday morning over whether the Islamic State has been fully ejected from the Kurdish center of Kobane in northern Syria, after almost two weeks of fighting inside the town.

The New York Times is a platform for the optimists, with Kurds, Americans, and Syrian insurgents all speaking of heavy losses for the Islamic State as it lost territory.

Following the assertion on Friday by a Kurdish official that the Islamic State was out of Kobane, though still fighting on the eastern outskirts, a Syrian insurgent commander on the western front said:

ISIS is retreating and we are advancing. Airstrikes destroyed most of their heavy weapons. Those who are left in the city center don’t have a way out….

The battle will be ending soon.

US spokesman General Lloyd Austin repeated claims of hundreds of jihadists killed by American-led airstrikes:

The enemy has made a decision to make Kobani his main effort….

My goal is to defeat and ultimately destroy ISIL. And if he continues to present us with major targets, as he has done in the Kobani area, then clearly, we’ll service those targets.

However, Austin cautioned that it was still “highly possible that Kobane could still fall”, and other outlets say the Islamic State still holds up to 1/3 of the town.

Al Jazeera reports continuing explosions and gunfire inside Kobane, with the jihadists still in southern and eastern sections. Kurdish official Idris Nassan gives a differing assessment from counterparts in other reports:

We need more air strikes, as well as weaponry and ammunition to fight them on the ground.

If we get extra weapons we need this could be over soon — but if it’s only airstrikes then this will be a long battle unfortunately.

US Tries to Tighten Sanctions on Both Assad Regime & Insurgency’s Jabhat al-Nusra

The US has tried to tighten sanctions on both the Assad regime and the Islamist insurgent faction Jabhat al-Nusra, hosting a meeting of more than 20 countries on Friday.

The State and Treasury Departments convened the meeting “to discuss and identify opportunities to implement targeted measures to financially isolate these extremist groups and the Assad regime from the international financial system and to undermine their financial foundations”.

The State Department said the conference committed itself to restrictions on funding of the Islamic State as well as Jabhat al-Nusra, and on degradation of “Assad’s access to resources”.

In recent months, Washington has imposed sanctions on individuals in the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, complementing an existing blacklist on members of the Assad regime.