Kurds try to capitalize on US airstrikes against Islamic State fighters in Kobane
The battle for the Syrian border town of Kobane has pitted Turkey against its NATO allies, which want to see a more robust response to Islamic State's offensive. US-led airstrikes appear to be checking the militants' advance into the town.
The battle for the Syrian border town of Kobane has pitted Turkey against its NATO allies, which want to see a more robust response to Islamic State's offensive. US-led airstrikes appear to be checking the militants' advance into the town.
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Fighting around the embattled Syrian town of Kobane on Wednesday appeared to tip in favor of Kurdish fighters trying to stave off capture by Islamic State militants, who have besieged the city for weeks.聽
鈥淭he shelling and bombardment was very effective,鈥� the deputy foreign minister of Kobane's Kurdish administration told Reuters by phone. 鈥淭his is their biggest retreat since their entry into the city,鈥� he said, referring to IS fighters.
Mounting US-led airstrikes on IS targets around Kobane have enabled Kurdish fighters to 鈥渞everse the advance of Islamic State militants for the first time since the extremists launched their assault about three weeks ago,鈥� The Washington Post reports.聽
The battle for Kobane 鈥� a Sryian Kurdish town on the border with Turkey 鈥� has highlighted major questions about the US-led fight against IS, including whether US allies like Turkey can be rallied to take a bigger role, and if US ground troops are necessary.
If Kobane were to fall, IS would control a larger section of the Syrian-Turkey border, which has been a route for foreign fighters entering Syria and for聽IS to sell oil from oilfields it has taken over, BBC reports.聽
Seven Syrian human rights groups appealed late Tuesday night for the international community to save Kobane from the 鈥渋nhuman practices and measures鈥� of IS that 鈥渉ave taken a clear form of persecution and ethnic cleansing.鈥�
Nearly 200,000 people have fled Kobane in recent weeks in fear of a massacre, should IS capture the town. Most are ethnic Kurds fleeing to Turkey 鈥� where clashes Tuesday night between police and demonstrators calling for Turkey to intervene killed 12, the Financial Times reports.
The US Central Command on Tuesday reported five strikes around Kobane on Tuesday, doubling the number of strikes carried out since the IS offensive against the town began last month, according to The Washington Post.
The Associated Press reports seeing warplanes, apparently from the US-led coalition, bombing IS positions near Kobane around noon local time on Wednesday:
Turkey has forces on the border with Syria, but has so far resisted pressure to intervene directly. Its hesitation is partly down to Turkey鈥檚 relationship with its own Kurdish separatists and concern over unilateral action, Alex Christie-Miller, 海角大神鈥檚 correspondent in Istanbul, explains: