Islamic State admits defeat in Kobani; blames airstrikes

Islamic State militants have acknowledged for the first time that they have been defeated in the Syrian town of Kobani, blaming withering airstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition for forcing them to flee the town on the Turkish border.

Although not a strategic site itself, Kobani — known by the militants as Ayn al-Islam — had turned into a test of wills between the militants and the coalition. At one point, Islamic State fighters controlled almost all of the town of 45,000 people and were on the verge of capturing it...