ISIS- SYRIA-THREAD

[Anthea]

The Guardian

Tales of torture, mutilation and rape as Isis targets key town of Kobani

As Islamic State militants closed in on the besieged Syrian city of Kobani on Saturday, Turkey lined up its soldiers near the border but continued to refuse to intervene to repel the extremist advance.

On a day that should have been one of the happiest in the Muslim calendar, the festival of Eid al-Adha, hundreds of Turks and refugee Kurds spent the morning at the border with Syria, watching helplessly as shells rained down on a city many once called home.

Turkish police appeared uneasy at the size of the crowd gathered near a fragile border fence and fired teargas grenades to disperse them, adding the crack of smaller explosions to the rumbling of the Isis advance.

When the crowd formed again, armoured personnel carriers and water cannon arrived, and riot police set to again. It was a mournfully surreal scene, with the battle for Kobani as the backdrop for the standoff with police.

Mostafa Kader was one of the restive crowd, grieving for an uncle who had been beheaded by militants, and a young mother and her daughter both brutally raped and murdered.

Kader fled 10 days ago, leaving his village, which lies 16km from Kobani centre, in the small hours of the morning. He and his wife took their five-year-old, their toddler and what little else they could carry.

His uncle planned to join them but at the last minute changed his mind, unable to leave a village that had been his home for more than eight decades. The militants beheaded him, refugees arriving later told Kader.

"He was 85 – he could not even lift a weapon," said the young father, baffled by the brutality. Even more haunting were stories from his wife's village, where the fleeing family found the bodies of her sister and an eight-year-old niece lying in pools of blood.

"They had been raped, and their hearts were cut out of their chests and left on top of the bodies," he said, struggling to hold back tears. "I buried them with my own hands."

Four years of civil war, and the extreme brutality of Isis have left him despairing for his country and family. "If I had known this was what the future held, I would never have married. It would be better to have died [fighting] in Kobani," he said.

After US air strikes on Isis positions overnight, the barrage of shells seemed to have slowed slightly. Kurdish forces said they had repelled an assault on the city's heart. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group, said the coalition hit at least four areas late on Friday on the southern and south-eastern fronts outside Kobani, which is also known as Ain al-Arab.

The group said the strikes had destroyed some military material belonging to Isis, which fired dozens of mortar rounds into the city on Friday after advancing to its outskirts.

"We have been fighting for 20 days now. Isis swore they would celebrate this Eid in the Kobani mosque, but we have prevented them," said Ismat Sheik Hasan, a commander of YPG, the Kurdish militia defending Kobani. "One of the US air strikes yesterday damaged their machine gun and another took out a cannon. We don't know if they hit their tanks or not."

Despite the success of their overnight defence and the limited relief provided by US air strikes, Hasan warned that the city's fate still hung in the balance. His fighters were running low on supplies, and promised aid had not arrived.

"We called the Turkish government for weapons and help. They said they will not allow Isis to control Kobani, but until now we have not seen them do anything."

Turkey has so far taken a back seat in efforts to tackle Isis in Syria, in part because dozens of diplomats captured in Mosul were being held hostage by the group. Their recent release potentially frees Istanbul to take a more active role in the US-led coalition against Islamic State, but the government has not unveiled any formal plans.

On Thursday, Turkey's parliament voted to allow the deployment of forces in Syria and Iraq to fight Isis. Ankara also warned it would not hesitate to strike Isis jihadists if they attacked Turkish troops in Syria, stationed at an enclave holding the tomb of Suleyman Shah.

Kurdish forces have long said that their most urgent need is more munitions so they can press any advantage won by air strikes, and these have been slow to arrive.

"We don't have heavy weapons and we don't have enough ammunition," said a spokesman. "I cannot say how many weapons we have – that is a secret– but I can say that we don't have enough. Maybe they will enter Kobani, and if they do, there will be a massacre."

Rami Abdelrahman, who runs the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told the Reuters news agency that several hundred people had been killed on both sides since the assault on Kobani started two weeks ago.

But there are many more who would be at risk if Isis takes the city. "In Kobani there are maybe 200,000 people, but I don't know exactly. Some leave at night and go to the border then return later," YPG commander Hasan said.

Thousands of Syrians who fled to the border have waited for days up against the fence, determined to delay their official transition to refugee status for as long as possible. More of them are now trickling over.

Among those who finally decided that Kobani was on the brink was Mukdad Bozan, travelling with his wife, a wailing baby and three bedraggled older children. They fled their village more than two weeks ago, shortly after the Isis assault on Kobani began and with little time to spare.

"I saw some soldiers in their cars on the road, but we escaped before they came to my village," Bozan said.

Still, they hoped the militants might yet be pushed back, and spent days camped out in their car at the border hoping they would soon be able to go home. They have no idea what the future holds now.

The last foreign journalist to leave Kobani on Saturday, the Swede Joakim Medin, said Isis troops were within a few minutes' drive of the centre, and that those who had chosen to stay, both men and women, were preparing any weapons they had.

"When I was evacuated, around lunchtime today, I saw several civilians armed with Kalashnikovs and any light weapons they could find," Medin told the BBC. "They were guarding their homes, their neighbourhoods.

"People didn't really know what to expect. We were sitting just a few hours ago having coffee with a family … and we could see Isis vehicles only two kilometres away. And obviously that means that they are really, really close to Kobani."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/o ... and-murder

[Anthea]

We are people who do not bow to one even when we die Die standing

“We are people who do not bow to one even when we die Die standing”

this quotation describe the situation in Kobani the city which is besieged by ISIS (Islamic state of Iraq and Syria) or as locale name it DAESH since 16.7.2013 when the Kurds “YPG” managed to liberate the city of SereKanye off ISIS and AL-Nusra which the both considered the most extremist groups, after that they attacked the Kurds in areas that they control,

They attacks Tullabayd “GERE SPI” as Kurds name it 10k Kurdish civilians were displaced to other area like Kobani or sent to turkey as refugee the locale FSA group helped them and back up them even some were concocted directly to SNC .

After Tullabyad ALNUSRA,ISIS plus 37 FSA group attacked the Kurdish villages of Tul Hasel and Tula Aran ,500 Kurdish civilian are missing till the date.

Today the we are in 21s day of ISIS invasion to Kobani, started at 15 nov. as analysis considered : the hugest clashes ever the Kurds in syria had,

Even isis themselves, in Mosul ISIS took 4 days to full control the city and the countryside of it, Iraqi army with equipment and heavy weapon ran away even 8k pishmerge also did the same in Sinjar.

What makes Kobani the castle of resistance refuse to fall its simple, the soul and the moral of fighter is most powerful weapon ever in wars.

That’s true the Kobani people are mostly tribe people which is running from battle is shame and the death too YPG ‘s fighter forced to stay because they defend their mother sister brother sons and their land which give them great power and will to resistance holding old AK75 against tanks.

BUT why isis mange to advance this time not before ?

Before isis attacks the turkish train which have been created since ottoman empire have never stopped in tull abyad and many cars heade from syria to the place it stopped. After the attacks ISIS releas all turkish diplomat through the same gate, wow is Turkish diplomacy is stronger and better than USA UK EU when their citizen beheaded one by one ?

Really not as u every one knows that isis and turkey are one, go head to Istanbul,Ankara Izmir, Adana then you will ask
is it turkey or DAESH STAN

The aid, logistic, ammo, fighter and money where is it come from to isis, it came by JOE BIDEN ‘turkey is feeding isis’

So what based on wrong still wrong Kobani this small town become grave yard for isis and turkey which is she is ready to deal with devil instead of Kurds on its border

If USA AIR strike is so serous to destroy isis, Isis attacks kobani with 37 tank 40 canon 100s car hamvee hummer 8k fighter they are in open field never get shelled !!!!!?

The brave people have just said their word We are people who do not bow to one even when we die, Die standing only that sound come from KOBANI the sound of KURDS

http://kovandirej.wordpress.com/2014/10 ... -standing/

[Anthea]

Bloomberg

Kurdish Fighters Hold Out Against Islamic State in Syria
By Selcan Hacaoglu and Benjamin Harvey

Islamic State fighters captured a strategic hill overlooking the Syrian stronghold of Kobani on the border with Turkey after a three-week siege of the town, according to NTV television and local Kurds.

A tank and some militants standing next to a heavy machine gun were seen on the hill of Mistenur to the east of Kobani, NTV reported today. Dozens of explosions in the town throughout the morning sent plumes smoke rising above the skyline, a live broadcast of Kobani from the Turkish-Syrian border showed.

In Suruc, a town on the Turkish side of the border near Kobani, two people were wounded when an errant mortar round from the battle hit a house, according to Governor Izzettin Kucuk of Sanliurfa province. Kurdish forces were fighting Islamic State militants at close quarters today in an attempt to wrest back control of Mistenur hill, pro-Kurdish Firat news agency said.

Islamic State escalated attacks to capture Kobani over the past few days as Kurdish forces armed with light weapons and shooting from inside homes and behind mud walls try to defend it. The rapid advance by the militants through villages in northern Syria with tanks and heavy artillery sent thousands of Kurds fleeing to Turkey.

“There were heavy clashes around Mistenur overnight, and Kurdish forces are said to have inflicted heavy blows to them, but Islamic State now controls that hill,” Ahmet Destan, a Kurdish villager, said by phone. The Islamic State captured another strategic hill to the west of Kobani last week.
Air Strikes

“They haven’t been able to penetrate the city yet but clashes are occurring just outside Kobani,” said Zuhal Ekmez, deputy mayor of Suruc. Fighting yesterday killed more than 11 Kurdish fighters and 16 militants, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The militants are seeking to expand territory under a self-declared caliphate that stretches across much of northern Iraq and Syria. In a bid to stop their gains, fighter jets from the U.S. and its allies have struck Islamic State positions in both countries. Kurdish leaders have accused the coalition, and Turkey, of not doing enough to save Kobani from falling.

U.S. Central Command said in a statement the coalition had carried out 14 strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq yesterday and the day before. Vehicles, artillery positions and a building were destroyed near Kobani, according to the statement. The U.S military is monitoring the threat to Kobani and has conducted air strikes “in and around” the town this week, Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters in Washington on Oct. 3.
Food Supplies

Kirby said the U.S. operation in Syria targets areas Islamic State can use as a “sanctuary and a safe haven,” compared with strikes in Iraq that are being conducted to back local forces. That doesn’t mean “we are going to turn a blind eye to what’s going on at Kobani or anywhere else,” Kirby said.

While Turkey’s government has vowed to prevent an Islamic State takeover of Kobani, Kurds aren’t convinced, accusing authorities in Ankara of using the crisis to suppress a largely autonomous Kurdish region that has evolved during Syria’s three-year civil war.

The Kurds fighting Islamic State in Syria are linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, whose separatist ambition has long been considered Turkey’s top security threat. Turkey’s government on Oct. 2 won parliamentary approval for military action as the conflict spreads closer to home.

While President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, commander-in-chief of NATO’s second-largest army, says he’ll join the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State, Turkey’s priority in Syria has been the removal of President Bashar al-Assad from power.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden yesterday apologized by phone to Erdogan following reports Biden had criticized Turkey for allowing militants to cross its border into Syria. Biden told students at Harvard University on Oct. 2 that Turkey was so eager to take down Assad that it had supported militant groups who came to the country, according to the Associated Press. Erdogan rejected the reported comments.

“It is obvious that U.S. and Turkey expect Kurds to choose their side before extending any kind of meaningful help to them,” said Ekmez. “Forget weapons, Turkey is even not allowing food supplies for Kobani.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara at shacaoglu@bloomberg.net; Benjamin Harvey in Istanbul at bharvey11@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Benjamin Harvey at bharvey11@bloomberg.net Caroline Alexander, Michael Winfrey

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-0 ... syria.html

[Anthea]

ARIN MIRKAN died when she did a suicide attack on ISIS

after she run out of AMMO



Where is the help

[Anthea]

Kurds are running out of food water and ammunition



Turks prevent any help reaching them

[Anthea]

Kobani map: September 15th



Kobani map: October 5th

[Anthea]

BBC News Middle East

BBC crew come under attack near Kobane

Turkish police have fired two tear gas canisters at a vehicle carrying a BBC reporting team as it was leaving the border area near Kobane, Syria.

The second round was fired at point blank range though the rear window, filling the van with tear gas and briefly setting fire to the vehicle.

Correspondent Paul Adams was being filmed shortly before the attack, and the camera kept rolling during the next few minutes.

The team is on the Turkey-Syria border to cover Islamic State's siege of the nearby town. Nobody was injured in the incident.

Link to BBC Video:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29499683

[Anthea]

BBC Middle East

Fierce battle between Kurds and IS rages for Kobane, Syria

A fierce battle is taking place around the Syrian town of Kobane, near the border with Turkey.

Kurdish fighters, backed by US-led air strikes, are trying to hold back an advance by Islamic State militants.

The town has been besieged for three weeks and thousands of Kurds have fled the area.

Paul Adams reports from the Turkish side of the border.

Link to BBC video:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29499685

[Anthea]

Turkish police tear-gas BBC team near Syrian border
Paul Adams and his team were filming when the attack took place

A BBC team filming tensions on the Turkish-Syrian border has been tear-gassed by Turkish police as it left protests by local and Syrian Kurds.

Police fired two canisters towards the team, one of which smashed into their car, filling it with gas.

The incident occurred near Kobane, the scene of fierce fighting between advancing Islamic State (IS) militants and Syrian Kurds defending the town.

Kurds in Turkey are angry at perceived Turkish inaction in the battle.


A rocket fell on a house across the Turkish border during fierce fighting around Kobane

At the scene: Paul Adams, BBC News, Suruc

Possibly prompted by a rocket, which landed in a house on the Turkish side of the border, the authorities decided to evacuate the whole area.

It was done with a heavy hand, using volleys of tear gas. Kurdish activists scattered across the fields, pursued by white clouds of gas.

We stopped to film a final piece to camera before leaving. Across the field, people were rushing to attend to a body lying prone in the dirt.

A white police truck approached and fired a tear gas canister which bounded along the track beside us.

As we clambered into our vehicle and started to leave, a second canister smashed through the rear window. It had been fired from no more than 10 feet away and could easily have killed anyone it hit.

The van quickly filled with choking tear gas. Curtains and upholstery started to catch fire. As we coughed and spluttered on the ground outside, our quick thinking driver and safety adviser put the fire out.

As we drove into the nearby town of Suruc, angry Kurdish youths were putting rocks across the road and brandishing stones.

They were spoiling for a fight.

Meanwhile activists from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights say a female Kurdish fighter has carried out a suicide attack on IS positions in the east of Kobane, killing a number of jihadists.

US-led forces have been conducting air strikes on IS positions in the area to try to slow their advance.

The strikes appeared to have slowed the IS advance, although the jihadists had captured part of a strategically important hill which would make it easier to take the town itself, the activists added.

The militants have been besieging the town for nearly three weeks. More than 160,000 Syrians, mainly Kurds, have fled across the border since the offensive was launched.

Capturing the town, also known as Ayn al-Arab, would give IS unbroken control of a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.

Turkish Kurds and refugees have clashed with Turkish security forces on the border for the last two days.

They are angry and disappointed at Turkey's perceived inaction over IS in recent months, as well as its refusal to allow them to cross into Syria to fight.

Last week, Turkey pledged to prevent Kobane from falling to the militants and its parliament has authorised military operations against militants in Iraq and Syria.

But it appears to have taken no action so far to prevent the fighting.

Correspondents says Turkey is reluctant to lend support to the Kurdish forces in the town because they are allied to the PKK, banned as a terrorist organisation in Turkey.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29498188

[Anthea]

Kurds Face Massacre In Syrian Border Town As Turkey Just Watches

The Turkish military is just watching as outgunned and outnumbered Kurdish fighters warn that a massacre is imminent in a town visible across the Syrian border. The fighters have been defending a key Kurdish stronghold in Syria against hardline militants aligned with the self-proclaimed Islamic State for nearly three weeks, but may not be able to hold out much longer.

Kurdish fighters in Kobani have battled for 20 days as the militants took scores of local villages and some 160,000 people have fled across the nearby border into Turkey. The lightly armed Kurdish forces defending the town, also known as the People’s Protection Units or YPG, have largely succeeded in fending off the militants, who are armed with heavy artillery and tanks, some of that U.S.-made and seized from other Syrian rebels and Iraqi forces. But Islamist forces have ramped up their efforts in recent days, shelling the town on Friday and Saturday.

Some of the heaviest battles so far took place Sunday, as Islamic State forces battled Kurdish fighters for control of a strategic overlook. An Islamic State missile reportedly hit a house in Turkey close to the Syrian border and wounded five people, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, U.S.-led coalition airstrikes have done little to stop the siege of Kobani. According to U.S. Central Command, the coalition led nine airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria on Friday and Saturday, reportedly killing at least 35 militants. However, Kurdish fighters maintain that those attacks are largely ineffective in aiding the Kobani defenders.

“Airstrikes alone are really not enough to defeat ISIS in Kobani,” Idris Nassan, who acts as Kobani’s foreign minister, told The Guardian. “They are besieging the city on three sides, and fighter jets simply cannot hit each and every [Islamic State] fighter on the ground.”

Last week, Turkey’s Parliament voted to authorize military action in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State if it is deemed necessary. The 298-98 vote also gave the Turkish government a mandate to allow foreign troops to launch operations from within Turkey.

“We wouldn’t want Kobani to fall,” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. “We welcomed our brothers who came from Kobani. We’ll do whatever we can to prevent this from happening.”

While the vote has received much attention as a possible step in the right direction, this is the third consecutive year the Turkish Parliament has voted in favor of military authorization to retaliate across the border in Syria without taking subsequent military action.

Many Kurds are skeptical that Turkey will cross the border and help fend off the militants’ advances in Kobani. Turkish leaders have yet to articulate any plans for lifting the siege. And on Friday, the BBC reported that Turkish tanks stood idle as Kobani faced further militant attacks.

“The Turkish state has declared its hostility to the Kurds with its reluctance,” Burhan Atmaca, a Turkish Kurd, told Agence France-Presse as he watched the fighting from across the Turkish border. “We no longer have confidence in Turkey. We will fend for ourselves.”

Indeed, despite last week’s vote, Turkey has made it clear that there will likely be no military action anytime soon. Meanwhile, rumors run rampant about Turkey’s supporting the Islamic State and turning a blind eye both to extremist recruiting cells within its own borders and to the use of smuggling routes to and from Syria.

Within the Turkish government, there is growing concern that the U.S.-led coalition focuses too much on defeating the Islamic State and not at all on toppling longtime Syrian President Bashar Assad. There is also worry over possible attacks on and within Turkey if the country did take up arms against the Islamic State.

In particular, Turkey is concerned about YPG’s ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has been in conflict with the Turkish state for 30 years. Designated a terrorist group by Turkey and the United States for its attacks on Turkish soldiers, the PKK has called for basic civil rights, greater freedoms for Kurds and the establishment of an ethnic homeland independent from Turkey (a demand since tabled).

Recently, imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan has warned that a fragile peace process with Turkey would abruptly end if Kobani fell to the Islamic State, threatening the country with internal conflict even as neighboring Syria implodes from its own war.

“I am calling on those in Turkey who don’t want to see the process collapse to shoulder responsibility,” Ocalan said in a statement from prison on Thursday. “The reality of Kobani and the peace process are not separable.”

http://theallnews.com/kurds-face-massac ... t-watches/

[Anthea]

CNN

ISIS enters Kobani, city's defenders see 'last chance to leave,' sources say
By Ralph Ellis

ISIS moved closer to seizing Kobani on Sunday as militants entered the southeastern edge of the Syrian city and street-to-street fighting began, a fighter and a media activist inside the city told CNN.

The city's defenders were looking for ways to escape the Kurdish stronghold strategically located near the Turkish border, the fighter said.

"It's the last chance to leave," the fighter said. The fighter and media activist requested their names be withheld for security reasons.

As night fell, the city grew quiet.

Members of the Kurdish People's Protection Unit, called YPG, and other groups defending the city were unable to move because ISIS snipers were equipped with night vision equipment, the fighter said.

The fighter said many city defenders close to the Turkish border attempted to cross into Turkey, while other fighters closer to ISIS positions were waiting until the morning to make a move.

The importance of Kobani

ISIS has been trying to seize Kobani for weeks. The city is significant because ISIS wants to claim a swath of land running from its self-declared capital of Raqqa, Syria, on the Euphrates River to the Turkish border, more than 60 miles away.

On Sunday, ISIS fighters overpowered Kurdish forces to take the top and the eastern side of Meshta Nour, the strategic hill overlooking Kobani, said the sources, who both requested their names be withheld for security reasons.

A civilian source inside Kobani said there have been heavy clashes on all fronts around Kobani. He said ISIS forces had been moved back from a small corner of the city they'd held for two days.

The YPG said in a statement that 86 "terrorists" were killed during a 24-hour period and 17 YPG members died.

On Sunday, smoke billowed over Kobani as ISIS sent bombs into the middle of town.

U.S., allies stage airstrikes

Kobani is now tightly surrounded in a crescent from the Aleppo road on the southwestern outskirts of the city all the way to the eastern edge of Kobani, near the Turkish border, the fighter and media activist said.

ISIS is making inroads despite airstrikes by U.S. and allied forces, including Sunday's strikes on the eastern outskirts of the city.

The YPG destroyed an ISIS tank in the east of Kobani near Kane Kordan, a large mound on the eastern of the city, the civilian source said.

ISIS fighters are now about about one kilometer south on the Aleppo road, the civilian source said.

Turkish security force throw teargas

Conflict occurred outside Kobani when Turkish security forces fired tear gas canisters at Kurds gathered near the border to watch the fighting from afar, CNN's Phil Black reported.

Black said the security forces fired the tear gas when the crowds became restive or moved too close to the border. At least three canisters struck a CNN van, he said. Nobody was badly hurt and the crowds dispersed.

Pakistani Talilban supports ISIS

ISIS picked up support when Pakistani Taliban spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid issued a statement backing ISIS.

"The Muslims of the world look to you with great expectation and in this difficult time we your mujahidin brothers are with you and will provide you with fighters and help," the statement said.

Meanwhile, U.S. and allied military forces conducted three airstrikes against ISIS in Syria and six airstrikes in Iraq on Saturday and Sunday, U.S. Central Command reported.

In Syria, one strike northwest of Al Mayadin destroyed an ISIS bulldozer, two tanks and another vehicle, the military said. Two strikes northwest of Ar Raqqah hit a large ISIS unit and destroyed six firing positions.

In Iraq, four strikes northeast of Fallujah struck two mortar teams, a large ISIS unit and two small ISIS units, the military said. Three ISIS Humvees were destroyed with strikes near Hit and Sinjar.

Australians complete first air mission

Australia has completed its first air combat mission over Iraq, the government announced Sunday in a press release.

Two Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18F Super Hornet aircraft conducted an air interdiction and close air support mission over northern Iraq and were on-call to attack targets if needed, the release said.

The aircraft did not use their munitions and returned to base to disarm, the release said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/05/world ... is-kobani/

[Anthea]

Most of the PYD leaders ran away from Kobani days ago

It is the Kurdish people themselves who are fighting

The women and older children are fighting along with the men

Their cowardly leaders are safe from harm

[Anthea]

Very little news is coming out of Aleppo

I believe that it is under attack from all sides by an assortment of different groups

Many Kurds have been forced to leave

If you have any up-to-date news please post it

[Anthea]

Reuters

Kurds vow to fight to the last as Islamic State tightens grip on Syrian town
By Daren Butler and Mariam Karouny

Outgunned Kurdish fighters vowed on Monday not to abandon their increasingly desperate efforts to defend the Syrian border town of Kobani from Islamic State militants pressing in from three sides and pounding them with heavy artillery.

The radical al Qaeda offshoot has been battling for more than two weeks to seize the predominantly Kurdish town, driving 180,000 people into neighboring Turkey.

Air strikes by American and Gulf state warplanes have failed to halt the advance of the Islamists, who moved to the outskirts of the town over the weekend and were battling to secure a strategic hilltop in the face of fierce resistance.

Despite the heavy fighting, which has seen mortars rain down on residential areas in Kobani and stray fire hit Turkish territory, a Reuters reporter saw around 30 people cross over from Turkey, apparently to help with defense of the town.

"Fighting continues, they are also firing mortars at the heart of the town. We have light weapons only," Esmat al-Sheikh, head of the Kobani Defence Authority, said by telephone.

"If they enter Kobani, it will be a graveyard for us and for them. We will not let them enter Kobani as long as we live. We either win or die. We will resist to the end," Sheikh said as heavy and light weapons fire echoed from the eastern side of town.

Ismail Eskin, a journalist in the town, said morale was still high "because the people are protecting their own soil".

"They will not allow (Islamic State) to occupy Kobani," he said.

VILLAGES EMPTIED

Islamic State wants to take Kobani to consolidate a dramatic sweep across northern Iraq and Syria, in the name of an absolutist version of Sunni Islam, that has sent shockwaves through the Middle East.

Beheadings, mass killings and torture have spread fear of the group across the region, with villages emptying at the approach of pick-up trucks flying Islamic State's black flag.

One female Kurdish fighter near Kobani blew herself up on Sunday after running out of ammunition, rather than be captured by IS, a monitoring group and local sources said.

"They have ammunition, but it is so little," said Pawer Mohammed Ali, a translator for the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) inside Kobani. "The PYD are just appealing to foreign forces for ammunition because (Islamic State) is using heavy weapons, tanks and mortars."

On Sunday, Islamic State released a video apparently showing its fighters in control of radio masts on top of Mistanour hill, which looks out over the town and would offer valuable high ground. Reuters was not able to independently verify the contents of the video.

Ali said fighting for control of Mistanour hill was continuing, and denied reports that IS fighters were in the streets of Kobani. He said Kurdish forces were holding them back but the situation in the town, where water and power had been cut off, was increasingly desperate.

Turkish hospitals have been treating a steady stream of wounded Kurdish fighters being brought across the frontier. Witnesses who had fled Kobani said that old women were being given grenades to throw, and young women with no fighting experience were being armed and sent into battle.

LITTLE HELP

Kobani's Kurds have so far received little help from elsewhere. Turkey has given shelter to the bulk of the area's refugees, and its doctors have treated the wounded, but it has given no suggestion that it could join the fight against Islamic State, beyond gestures of self-defense.

Over the weekend, President Tayyip Erdogan vowed to retaliate if Islamic State attacked Turkish forces, and on Monday Turkish tanks deployed along the border for the second time in a week, some with guns pointing towards Syria, apparently in response to stray fire crossing the frontier.

Still, Islamic State's release last month of 46 Turkish hostages, and a parliamentary motion last week renewing a mandate allowing Turkish troops to cross into Syria and Iraq, have raised expectations that Ankara may be planning a more active role.

Its calculations are complex, however.

For three decades, Ankara has fought an armed insurgency by its own Kurdish PKK militants demanding greater autonomy in Turkey's southeast.

Analysts say it is now wary of helping Syrian Kurdish forces near Kobani as they have strong links with the PKK and have maintained ambiguous relations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to whom Turkey is implacably opposed.

Against that are warnings from the leaders of Turkey's Kurds that allowing Syria's Kurds to be driven from Kobani would spell the end of Erdogan's delicately poised drive to negotiate an end to his own Kurdish insurgency and permanently disarm the PKK.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/ ... NS20141006

[Anthea]

Kobane is likely to fall soon - asks the international community not to abandon them

For those asking about coalition airstrikes: No strikes whatsoever today. There are even no planes in sky above #kobane.
Expand

Multiple sources say ISIS flags fly in east city but YPG still fighting heavily in centre It's looking pretty dire by all account