Kobane: Syria Kurds in bid to push back Islamic State BBC News 8 October 2014, 7:45 AM EDT Fighting is continuing around the Syrian border town of Kobane, with reports of fresh US-led coalition air strikes targeting Islamic State (IS). Kurdish fighters say they are trying to push back the IS advance after what they called effective strikes. The UN envoy for Syria has urged the international community to act now to prevent IS from seizing the key town. Staffan de Mistura told the BBC that the fall of Kobane would be a massacre and a humanitarian tragedy. Seizing the entire town would give the IS jihadists full control of a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border, which has been a primary route for foreign fighters getting into Syria, as well as allowing IS to traffic oil from oilfields it has captured. Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobani amid clashes between Islamic State fighters and Kurdish fighterson 7 October 2014. Photo 1: Sounds of gunfire could be heard from the Turkish side of the border on Wednesday Turkey has come under increasing pressure to do more to help the Kurdish forces fighting in Kobane. At least 12 people were killed in protests by Kurds in Turkey on Tuesday over the lack of Turkish military support. Three weeks of fighting over Kobane has cost the lives of 400 people, and forced more than 160,000 Syrians to flee across the border to Turkey. Battle in the east The entire eastern area of Kobane seems to be one big gun battle, with some of the fighting taking place very close to the border, says the BBCs Paul Adams, who is on the Turkish side. IS fighters are trying to retake areas in the east that they have lost control of as a result of coalition air strikes, says the head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Rami Abdel Rahman, quoted by AFP, said IS had earlier retreated from parts of the eastern and south-western edges of the town and was a no longer present on the western front. Until now, IS has besieged the town on three fronts to the south, south-east and south-west. Photo 2: Turkish tanks line up on the Turkey-Syria border with no sign of movement as yet Photo 3: The view of an IS flag from the Turkish side of the border near Kobane Photo 4: Over 160,000 Syrians have fled three weeks of fighting in Kobane Two coalition air strikes reportedly targeted IS positions around Kobane on Wednesday. Our correspondent says Kurdish fighters feel emboldened a day after witnessing eight coalition air strikes on Kobane that brought the IS advance to a juddering halt. Effective strikes The leader of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Unity Party (PYD) said the situation remained very serious, with fighters from its armed wing, the Popular Protection Units (YPG), under intense pressure. There is heavy fighting going on by YPG forces and theyre trying to defend the civilians, Salih Muslm said. There is a very large operation against them. Photo 5: Chart of air strikes in Iraq and Syria In New York, the UNs special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said the Syrian Kurds had defended Kobane with great courage and the international community should now take concrete action to support them. Syrian Kurdish fighters said Tuesdays coalition strikes - which destroyed several IS armed vehicles and tanks - were the most effective yet, but should have come much earlier. Meanwhile, a senior US official told the New York Times that theres growing angst about Turkey dragging its feet to act to prevent a massacre less than a mile from its border. After all the fulminating about Syrias humanitarian catastrophe, theyre inventing reasons not to act to avoid another catastrophe, the official said. Photo 6: Map of Kobane showing IS advances Photo 7: Diyarbakir was one of the Turkish cities that witnessed Kurdish protests Photo 8: The demonstrators are angry at what they see as Turkish inaction over the IS advance Last week Turkeys parliament authorised military action against the jihadists in Iraq and Syria, but so far no action has been taken. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that air power alone could not defeat IS: We had warned the West. We wanted three things: no-fly zone, a secure zone parallel to that, and the training of moderate Syrian rebels. He said that the terror will not be over... unless we co-operate for a ground operation, although he gave no further details.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 12:12:50 +0000
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