CNN Airs Live Battle Between ISIS, Kurds as Refugees Cheer

CNN aired spectacular live footage of a small group of Islamic State jihadists cornered on a hilltop at the Turkey–Syria border Friday, with Kurdish refugees roaring encouragement as their fighters poured small arms and mortar fire onto the Islamist forces.

CNN reporter Phil Black said he’d been viewing the battle for the better part of the afternoon from his vantage point on the Turkish border with Syria. Reeling from coalition air strikes in Iraq and other parts of Syria, in recent days the Islamic State has aggressively attacked Kurdish regions in northeastern Syria, driving tens of thousands across the border.

Behind a wall of Turkish military vehicles, those refugees clapped and cheered as tracer fire and mortar shells sliced through the dusk to hit the jihadist position. Black said his cameraman had seen some Islamic State fighters hit by the onslaught, with their comrades struggling to carry the wounded and dead off the hilltop.