Middle East
3 October 2014
Last updated at 07:29 ET
IS has moved to within a few kilometres of the town despite US-led air strikes seeking to halt its two-week offensive.
On Thursday, Turkey's prime minister promised it would do whatever it could to prevent the fall of Kobane.
Ahmet Davutoglu spoke only hours after the Turkish parliament authorised military operations against militants in Iraq and Syria who threaten Turkey's security, and for foreign troops to use Turkish bases.
Turkish tanks and armoured vehicles have been deployed along the Syrian border
Paul Adams, BBC News, Syrian-Turkish border near Kobane
Turkey's prime minister seemed to give a categorical assurance. The Turkish government, Mr Davutoglu said, did not want Kobane to fall and would do whatever it could to prevent this from happening.
But here on the border, Kobane is still under attack, with shelling by Islamic State militants once again hitting the eastern edge of town, and a strategic hill just above. A few hundred metres away, a squadron of Turkish tanks sits idle. There are no signs of any imminent Turkish move to stop the town falling.
Despite Thursday's parliamentary decision, Turkey is still wary of getting involved. It seems likely the government will once again press members of the US-led coalition to create a no-fly zone before sending troops anywhere across the border.
More than 160,000 Syrians, mainly Kurds, have fled across the
border since IS launched an offensive to capture Kobane on 15 September.
'World remains silent' Shells fired by IS fighters hit several buildings inside Kobane and Kurdish militia positions on a strategically important hill overlooking the town on Friday morning.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, reported intense fighting to the east and south-east. Kurdish fighters had destroyed two vehicles belonging to jihadists, it said.
On Friday afternoon, there were unconfirmed reports that IS had reached the outskirts of Kobane. Alan Minbic, a member of the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG), told CNN that the jihadists had taken control of the Tal Shair area, in the south-west corner of the town.
Mortars fired by IS fighters struck buildings inside Kobane on Friday
Turkey is hosting tens of thousands of refugees from the besieged Kobane area
Capturing the town, also known as Ayn al-Arab, would give IS unbroken control of a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.
Late on Thursday, Mr Davutoglu said: "We wouldn't want Kobane to fall. We'll do whatever we can to prevent this from happening.
"No other country has the capacity to affect the developments in Syria and Iraq. No other country will be affected like us either."
However, Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz subsequently said any immediate move was unlikely.
Turkish Kurds have expressed anger and disappointment at their government's perceived inaction over IS in recent months, as well as its refusal to allow them to cross into Syria to fight.
"There is a massacre being committed before the eyes of the world. The world remains silent when Kurds are being massacred," Burhan Atmaca, who travelled to the Mursitpinar border crossing to show solidarity with the Kurdish fighters, told the AFP news agency on Friday.
In a separate development on Friday, Australia's cabinet gave its approval for its aircraft to begin flying combat missions in Iraq.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said IS was a "death cult" that had "declared war on the world" and had to be stopped.
What is Islamic State (IS)?
by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Beirut
Paul Adams witnessed some of the shelling near Kobane
Heavy
fighting is being reported between Kurdish militiamen and Islamic State
(IS) militants advancing on the northern Syrian town of Kobane.
A BBC correspondent across the border in Turkey saw explosions and smoke rising from buildings hit by shells.IS has moved to within a few kilometres of the town despite US-led air strikes seeking to halt its two-week offensive.
On Thursday, Turkey's prime minister promised it would do whatever it could to prevent the fall of Kobane.
Ahmet Davutoglu spoke only hours after the Turkish parliament authorised military operations against militants in Iraq and Syria who threaten Turkey's security, and for foreign troops to use Turkish bases.
Turkish tanks and armoured vehicles have been deployed along the Syrian border
Turkey's prime minister seemed to give a categorical assurance. The Turkish government, Mr Davutoglu said, did not want Kobane to fall and would do whatever it could to prevent this from happening.
But here on the border, Kobane is still under attack, with shelling by Islamic State militants once again hitting the eastern edge of town, and a strategic hill just above. A few hundred metres away, a squadron of Turkish tanks sits idle. There are no signs of any imminent Turkish move to stop the town falling.
Despite Thursday's parliamentary decision, Turkey is still wary of getting involved. It seems likely the government will once again press members of the US-led coalition to create a no-fly zone before sending troops anywhere across the border.
'World remains silent' Shells fired by IS fighters hit several buildings inside Kobane and Kurdish militia positions on a strategically important hill overlooking the town on Friday morning.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, reported intense fighting to the east and south-east. Kurdish fighters had destroyed two vehicles belonging to jihadists, it said.
On Friday afternoon, there were unconfirmed reports that IS had reached the outskirts of Kobane. Alan Minbic, a member of the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG), told CNN that the jihadists had taken control of the Tal Shair area, in the south-west corner of the town.
Mortars fired by IS fighters struck buildings inside Kobane on Friday
Turkey is hosting tens of thousands of refugees from the besieged Kobane area
Late on Thursday, Mr Davutoglu said: "We wouldn't want Kobane to fall. We'll do whatever we can to prevent this from happening.
"No other country has the capacity to affect the developments in Syria and Iraq. No other country will be affected like us either."
However, Defence Minister Ismet Yilmaz subsequently said any immediate move was unlikely.
Turkish Kurds have expressed anger and disappointment at their government's perceived inaction over IS in recent months, as well as its refusal to allow them to cross into Syria to fight.
"There is a massacre being committed before the eyes of the world. The world remains silent when Kurds are being massacred," Burhan Atmaca, who travelled to the Mursitpinar border crossing to show solidarity with the Kurdish fighters, told the AFP news agency on Friday.
In a separate development on Friday, Australia's cabinet gave its approval for its aircraft to begin flying combat missions in Iraq.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said IS was a "death cult" that had "declared war on the world" and had to be stopped.
In 60 seconds: What does Islamic State want?
- Formed out of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) in 2013, IS first captured Raqqa in eastern Syria
- It captured parts of Iraq in June, including Mosul, and declared a "caliphate" in areas it controls in Syria and Iraq
- Pursuing an extreme form of Sunni Islam, IS has persecuted non-Muslims such as Yazidis and Christians, as well as Shia Muslims, whom it regards as heretics
- Known for its brutal tactics, including beheadings of soldiers, Western journalists and aid workers
- The CIA says the group could have as many as 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria
Islamic State
Features and Analysis
-
As Islamic State (IS) seeks to expand the territory under its control in Iraq and Syria, Paul Wood charts the rise of jihadists.From the shadows
-
Short-term gain?
-
'Adapt or die'
-
Phoney war
-
'Prisoners in Mosul'
-
Stopping foreign recruits
-
Fuelling conflict
-
Khorasan threat
-
Coalition weaponry
-
Is force legal?
-
Beaten and starved
-
Warning from Raqqa
-
Fertile ground
-
Reasoned case
-
Air power not enough
-
Battle in maps
-
Who to trust
-
IS in 60 seconds
No comments:
Post a Comment