Sunday Times 2
Kurds halt IS thrust into heart of Syria’s Kobane: Monitor
View(s):BEIRUT, Oct 11 (AFP) -Kurdish fighters thwarted a bid by Islamic State group jihadists to advance into the centre of the battleground Syrian town of Kobane early today, a monitoring group said.
The attack came after the IS militants overran Kurdish headquarters in the border town on Friday, sparking fears they would cut off the last escape route to neighbouring Turkey for hundreds of mainly elderly civilians still in the town centre.
The IS assault sparked 90 minutes of heavy fighting with the town’s Kurdish defenders before the jihadists fell back, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Smoke rises in the Syrian town of Kobani as Turkish Kurds watch near the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border (REUTERS)
US-led coalition warplanes also carried out two air strikes on IS targets south and east of the town early Saturday, according to the Britain-based monitoring group, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria.
Small groups of Kurdish fighters were trying to harry the encircling jihadists with operations across the front line, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura warned Friday that 12,000 or so civilians still in or near Kobane, including 700 mainly elderly people in the town centre, “will most likely be massacred” by IS if the town falls.
Kobane was “literally surrounded” except for one narrow entry and exit point to the Turkish border, de Mistura said.
The envoy called on Turkey, “if they can, to support the deterrent actions of the coalition through whatever means from their own territory.” “We would like to appeal to the Turkish authorities in order to allow the flow of volunteers at least, and their equipment to be able to enter the city to contribute to a self-defence operation,” he said in Geneva.
The United States reported “progress” in pressing Turkey to participate in the fight against the Islamic State group, noting a pledge from Ankara to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels.
The head of the US-led coalition, retired general John Allen, and US pointman on Iraq, Brett McGurk, completed a two-day visit in Turkey to press the NATO ally to engage militarily against the jihadist group.
Washington had been frustrated over Ankara’s reticence to commit its well-equipped and well-trained forces in the fight against the militants.
Asked if the Turkish-US meetings — attended by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and military officials — had led to “progress”, State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said yes.
“Turkey has agreed to support, train and equip efforts for the moderate Syrian opposition,” one of the main components of US strategy in Syria unveiled September 10 by US President Barack Obama.
Meanwhile the European Union called for greater international cooperation, including from Turkey, in the fight against IS.
‘Willing to die’
Kobane activist Mustafa Ebdi said the IS militants were using civilian cars with Kurdish flags to avoid coming under attack by coalition aircraft.
He said the risk of Kobane falling was high, and described the town as a “symbol of resistance to IS in Syria”.
“Every Kurdish fighter is willing to die,” he said.
The situation is complicated by the close ties between the town’s Kurdish defenders and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, which has waged a three-decade insurgency for self-rule in southeastern Turkey.
Ankara has been deeply reluctant to allow weapons or Kurdish fighters to cross the border.
More than 180,000 people have been killed in Syria since an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime began in 2011, escalating into a multi-sided civil war that has drawn thousands of jihadists from overseas.
Regime bombardment and air strikes killed at least 21 civilians, eight of them children, in the south and northeast of the country Friday, the Observatory said.
In Iraq, meanwhile, IS fighters executed 13 people, including cameraman Raad al-Azzawi who worked for a local television station.
With the violence showing no sign of abating, US defence officials said military chiefs from 21 countries in the coalition would gather next week in Washington to discuss the crisis.