US-led coalition airstrikes have pushed back Islamic State militants to the edge of a Syrian town near the Turkey border.
The extremist group, which is fighting less well-armed Kurdish forces, had looked like it was set to seize Kobani on Tuesday after a three-week assault.
But the US reported the aerial raids, which destroyed an armoured personnel carrier, armed vehicles and artillery, have helped stop IS from taking over and some fighters have left the area.
However, heavy gunfire was heard from inside Kobani in a sign of fresh clashes.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Wednesday's strikes targeted IS fighters east of the town.
The airstrikes have intensified since IS, also known as ISIS and ISIL, hoisted its black flag on the eastern edge of Kobani two days ago.
Activists said the strikes killed at least 45 IS militants since Monday evening, forcing the group to withdraw from parts of the town.
Over the past few days, thousands of IS fighters armed with heavy weapons looted from captured army bases in Iraq and Syria had managed to push into some areas.
The fighting has forced 200,000 residents and villagers to flee and seek shelter across the border in Turkey.
Six airstrikes around the town were among nine that have taken place in the country in the last two days by the US and United Arab Emirates.
There were two strikes near Raqqa, IS' self-proclaimed capital in Syria, which hit a training camp and the group's fighters. Another strike near Deir al Zor destroyed a tank.
Idriss Nassan, deputy head of Kobani's foreign relations committee, said Kobani was "still in danger" and more airstrikes were needed.
Activists say more than 400 people, including fighters and civilians, have been killed in the fighting around Kobani in recent weeks.
Despite the apparent gains by the strikes, the US played down the significance of the battle in the long-term American strategy to defeat the insurgents.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said IS may take Kobani or other towns, and while airstrikes were effective, military power alone would not be enough.
"This group is not going to go away tomorrow, and Kobani may fall. We can't predict whether it will or it won't," he said in an interview with CNN.
"There will be other towns that they will threaten, and there will be other towns that they will take. It is going to take a little bit of time."
Kobani "is not necessarily a strategically significant border town for ISIL because that border is porous already," he added.
Kurds, who live in many of the areas IS controls in northern Syria, northern Iraq and parts of southeast Turkey, have been pressuring Ankara to intervene to defend Kobani.
Turkey says it does not want the town to fall and has encouraged the US to set up a no-fly zone and a humanitarian corridor (buffer zone) on the border.
France is backing calls for a buffer zone and the US and Britain said they were willing to "examine" the idea of a safe haven.
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Gallery: Assad's Forces Seize Area From Islamists
Forces of Syria's President Bashar al Assad carry a Syrian flag as they head towards a spot where a flag of the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front is positioned on a hillside in Zor al-Mahruqa village
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Assad's forces said they had regained control of the area and its surrounding hills, in the Hama countryside
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The flag of the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front is burnt on the hill
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The Syrian national flag is erected
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Assad forces inspect military equipment, which they said were left behind by rebel fighters in Zor al-Mahruqa village
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An abandoned base where caves were dug by rebel fighters in Zor al-Mahruqa village
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Assad forces inspect an underground base where caves were dug by rebel fighters in the nearby al-Hareeqa village
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A Polish army member hods the German flag in front of an Eurofighter aircraft during a visit of new NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg of Norway (not pictured) at Lask air base
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NATO will stand by member state Turkey if it comes under attack as a result of the fighting in neighboring Syria, alliance Secretary-General Stoltenberg said
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