The U.S.-led airstrikes mounted against the Islamic State in Syria over the weekend took down several IS targets, but Kurd fighters say the strikes do very little in pushing back the militants as they zero in on a key territory near the Turkish border.

The U.S. Central Command reported on Sunday that U.S. jet fighters have targeted a few IS vehicles and six attack positions in Syria. The exact locations of the attacks were not indicated as the official Pentagon statement referred only to targets in northwest Raqqa.

Like Us on Facebook

According to The Guardian, Kobani is situated northwest of the IS stronghold of Raqqa.

Also over the weekend, IS fighters shelled down the outskirts of the Syrian town of Kobani, forcing Kurdish militiamen to defend the beleaguered town as the insurgents staged attacks from three separate fronts.

Recent coalition aerial raids have failed to push back the insurgents' offensive, the Reuters reported. On Sunday, an estimated 180,000 refugees fled across the frontier in what is reportedly one of the biggest exoduses in Syria's years-long armed conflict.

According to Idris Nassan, a spokesman for the Kurdish fighters, more than air support, ground troops and heavy machineries are needed to take on the militants.

Aerial bombardments have become ineffective in defeating the advancing insurgents as they have already adapted their tactics to the western air strategy, Nassan said.

Military experts have long insisted western ground troops are necessary to defeat the Islamic State militants.

General Sir David Richards, a former British defense staff, has argued for weeks how air raids alone will not win the war against the Islamic State, the Newsweek reported.

Even British Prime Minister David Cameron had conceded that the IS's bloody advance could not be stopped from the air alone, but insisted that only Iraqi or Kurdish troops should meet the insurgents on the ground.

In Washington, President Barack Obama has repeatedly ruled out deploying American boots on the ground.

Sefqan Ciya, a field commander of a Kurdish group defending the city of Kobani, has called on the international community to cooperate with the Kurds in targeting and attacking IS positions.

He told Newsweek that unless the United States and the European Union provide adequate military support, the Islamic State will not be stopped in northeast Syria.

TagsIslamic State in Syria, U.S.-led air strikes, Syrian airstrikes, Fertile Crescent