ISIS- SYRIA-THREAD

[Anthea]

Civilians still being evacuated from Kobane.

Friends saw 2 big trucks and 2 vans full of Kurds brought to Turkey

HOW MANY CIVILIANS ARE LEFT ?

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[Anthea]

Rudaw

ISIS Siege of Kobane Intensifies as Violence Spills into Turkey
by Jonathon Burch

ISTANBUL, Turkey – Kurdish fighters battled Islamic State militants on Monday as the jihadists stepped up their three-week siege of the border town of Kobane and tensions spilled across the frontier after a stray shell wounded five people on Turkish soil.

A Rudaw reporter in the area said fighting had intensified to the east of the predominantly Kurdish town, which sits hard on Turkey's border, with the constant sound of heavy gunfire and explosions reverberating through the air. Black smoke could also be seen rising above the town from tens of kilometers away.

Insurgents from the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) have encircled Kobane in a siege that is nearing its fourth week, as they try and consolidate their control along the Turkish border. The jihadists have already captured large swaths of territory across Syria and neighboring Iraq. Their advance on Kobane has sent more than 180,000 refugees, mainly Syrian Kurds, fleeing to Turkey.

Tensions on the Turkish side have been rising as the fighting has neared its border. On Sunday, the violence spilled over onto Turkish soil when a shell fired from Syria hit a house just across the frontier from Kobane, wounding at least five people, Turkish media reported. Video footage showed a large hole in the side of the house where the shell struck.

Media reported that three neighborhoods near the border were being evacuated for security reasons and Turkish security forces have also fired tear gas and water cannon at residents and journalists to try and keep them away from the border.

Shells and mortars have been landing up and down Turkey's 900 km border with Syria since rebel fighters took up arms in 2011 in an attempt to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The spillover of violence has frustrated Turks along the border and underscores the regional dimension of Syria's civil war.

The Turkish military has beefed up its presence along the border with troops and tanks, and on Sunday it said six of its F-16 fighter planes had been patrolling the frontier. Turkey has also been responding in kind when stray fire has landed on its soil.
But so far Ankara has resisted joining the fight against ISIS. It views the Kurdish militias in northern Syria, the People's Protection Units (YPG), with distrust, seeing them as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey, which has been fighting the Turkish state for 30 years in search of more autonomy.

Turkey is wary of intervening militarily, particularly in Kurdish areas, fearing it will strengthen Assad's position and that of the YPG and will embolden Turkey's Kurds. The Kurds have accused Ankara of supporting the Islamist fighters, sending them weapons and allowing them easy movement across the border, charges Turkey denies.

The United States and other allies have been conducting air strikes on Islamic State targets over the past few weeks in Syria and Iraq, and Washington wants Turkey to take a more active role in the fight.

Turkey's parliament voted to renew a mandate last week allowing its military to conduct operations in Syria and Iraq and for its bases and air space to be used by allies against Islamic State, a move welcomed by Washington. But Turkey has shown no sign so far it will use the mandate for any offensive operation in Syria and it is still unclear whether it will allow its bases to be used by allies for offensive operations.

The recent advance by Islamic State has laid bare some of the tensions between Washington and Ankara. Turkey wants the United States to impose a no-fly zone in northern Syria and for it to bomb Syrian government targets as well as the jihadists, while Washington no longer sees removing Assad as a priority.

The Kurds are wary of Turkey's call for a no-fly zone, saying it will only weaken their position.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/06102014

[Anthea]

BBC News

Kobane: Civilians flee IS street-to-street fighting

Islamic State (IS) militants have entered the key Syria-Turkey border town of Kobane and are engaged in street-to-street fighting with Syrian Kurd defenders.

IS fighters entered eastern districts, raising their black flag on buildings and high ground.

Hundreds of civilians are reported to be fleeing to the Turkish border.

Taking Kobane, besieged for three weeks, would give IS control of a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.

More than 160,000 Syrians, mainly Kurds, have fled the town.

Earlier a local official in Kobane, Idriss Nassan, told the BBC that the town would "certainly fall soon".

He confirmed IS was now in control of Mistenur, the strategic hill above the town and that there was heavy shelling. Kobane is now besieged on three sides.

'Limited weapons'

Asya Abdullah, a senior Kurdish politician and co-leader of the Democratic Union Party, is in Kobane and told the BBC's Newshour programme that clashes were taking place in three neighbourhoods.

She said: "There is fighting on Kobane's streets now. There are still thousands of civilians in the city and IS is using heavy weapons. If they are not stopped now, there will be a big massacre.

"They have surrounded us almost from every side with their tanks. They have been shelling the city with heavy weapons. Kurdish fighters are resisting as much as they can with the limited weapons they have."

Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for Kurds in Kobane, told Agence France-Presse that 2,000 civilians had evacuated on Monday and that all civilians had been ordered to leave.

The US Central Command earlier confirmed a fresh air strike by US-led forces had "destroyed two IS fighting positions south of Kobane" but Ms Abdullah said the strikes in the area were "ineffective".

She said: "[IS has] heavy weapons and tanks, that is why our resistance has limits and we need more air strikes."


The Turkish military occupies high ground but has not moved over the border

Ms Abdullah said: "The rest of the world is silent about this imminent massacre."

The BBC's Paul Adams, near the border, says this has been a long day of constant gunfire, with smoke drifting across the rooftops of Kobane and occasional thunderous explosions reverberating across the valley.

He adds that the Kurdish defenders are saying that they relish the challenge, but this feels like the beginning of the end.

Our correspondent reported a steady stream of Turkish ambulances racing to and from the border, with many wounded people being treated in hospitals close to the frontier.

In other developments on Monday:

At least 30 Kurdish fighters were killed in two attacks in the north-eastern Syrian city of Hassakeh, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said
Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg vowed to protect Turkey, a member state, saying: "Turkey should know that Nato will be there if there is any spillover, any attacks on Turkey as a consequence of the violence we see in Syria"
UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond met Iraqi Vice-President Ayad Allawi, vowing to use "all the instruments at our disposal" to defeat IS

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

They are angry 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 authorised military operations against militants in Iraq and Syria. But it appears to have taken no action so far.

Correspondents say 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.

KOBANE KEY FACTS:

Kobane, known in Arabic as Ayn al-Arab, and the villages surrounding it were home to about 400,000 people, most of them Kurds
Kurdish parties have governed the area since the Syrian army withdrew two years ago
In the first half of 2013, IS seized control of neighbouring areas, leaving Kobane surrounded on three sides
IS launched a major offensive on 16 September, prompting more than 100,000 people to flee to Turkey

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29515431

[Anthea]

BBC News

Kobane: Civilians flee IS street-to-street fighting

Islamic State (IS) militants have entered the key Syria-Turkey border town of Kobane and are engaged in street-to-street fighting with Syrian Kurd defenders.

IS fighters entered eastern districts, raising their black flag on buildings and high ground.

Hundreds of civilians are reported to be fleeing to the Turkish border.

Taking Kobane, besieged for three weeks, would give IS control of a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.

More than 160,000 Syrians, mainly Kurds, have fled the town.

Earlier a local official in Kobane, Idriss Nassan, told the BBC that the town would "certainly fall soon".

He confirmed IS was now in control of Mistenur, the strategic hill above the town and that there was heavy shelling. Kobane is now besieged on three sides.

'Limited weapons'

Asya Abdullah, a senior Kurdish politician and co-leader of the Democratic Union Party, is in Kobane and told the BBC's Newshour programme that clashes were taking place in three neighbourhoods.

She said: "There is fighting on Kobane's streets now. There are still thousands of civilians in the city and IS is using heavy weapons. If they are not stopped now, there will be a big massacre.

"They have surrounded us almost from every side with their tanks. They have been shelling the city with heavy weapons. Kurdish fighters are resisting as much as they can with the limited weapons they have."

Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for Kurds in Kobane, told Agence France-Presse that 2,000 civilians had evacuated on Monday and that all civilians had been ordered to leave.

The US Central Command earlier confirmed a fresh air strike by US-led forces had "destroyed two IS fighting positions south of Kobane" but Ms Abdullah said the strikes in the area were "ineffective".

She said: "[IS has] heavy weapons and tanks, that is why our resistance has limits and we need more air strikes."

Ms Abdullah said: "The rest of the world is silent about this imminent massacre."

The BBC's Paul Adams, near the border, says this has been a long day of constant gunfire, with smoke drifting across the rooftops of Kobane and occasional thunderous explosions reverberating across the valley.

He adds that the Kurdish defenders are saying that they relish the challenge, but this feels like the beginning of the end.

Our correspondent reported a steady stream of Turkish ambulances racing to and from the border, with many wounded people being treated in hospitals close to the frontier.

Full Article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29515431

[Anthea]

Kurds are protesting! Turkey transfers injured ISIS thugs from Urfa hospitals to other cities b/c they fear people may attack

As I have mentioned many times in recent weeks:

Turkey is now a Sunni Islamic State

Want to know what sentence is trending from Turkey on Twitter? "ISIS we are behind you, exterminate Kurds!" Yes, it is true.

[Anthea]

Huffington Post (updated)

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).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/0 ... _hp_ref=tw

[Anthea]

UN Latest Statements

New York, 6 October 2014 - Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on the situation in Ayn al-Arab, Syria

The Secretary-General is following with grave concern the ongoing offensive by ISIL on the northern Syrian town of Ayn al-Arab, which has already resulted in massive displacement of civilians, including into Turkey, and numerous death and injuries.

In light of the gross and extensive violations of human rights and international humanitarian law the terrorist group has committed in areas that have fallen under its control in Syria and Iraq during its barbarous campaign, he urgently calls on all those with the means to do so to take immediate action to protect the beleaguered civilian population of Ayn al-Arab (Kobani).

http://www.un.org/sg/statements/index.asp?nid=8084

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Mail Online

IS flag flies on Europe's doorstep: Jihadis are poised to seize key town...

while Nato's tanks hold their fire on Turkish border
By John Hall and Jack Crone



Islamic State terrorists raise the black flag of jihad in Kobane - where Kurdish forces have been resisting for weeks
Flag was seen being waved on hill on the outskirts of town, before being raised over four-storey building in suburbs
Brave Kurdish troops still desperately resisting and earlier said they will not let them take city 'for as long as we live'
But new reports say militants have entered city's eastern districts, engaging in street-to street fighting with defenders
If Kobani falls ISIS will control unbroken 125-mile stretch of frontier with Turkey - 1,000 miles from the EU
Heavily armed Turkish soldiers stationed on nearby Syrian border have been watching the fierce fighting take place
Mortar shells fired by ISIS militants have fallen inside Turkish territory in recent days damaging homes in Atmanek
NATO member Turkey has announced that alliance's 'joint defence mechanism' will be activated if ISIS breach border

Islamic State militants have entered the key strategic city of Kobane, which lies on the Syrian-Turkish border, and have taken control of its eastern districts after engaging in street-to-street fighting with Kurdish defenders.

ISIS raised their flag over a building in the outskirts of the town yesterday morning following an assault lasting almost three weeks, amid fears the town could fall to the jihadists within hours.

Kobane is just six miles from the Turkish border - the gateway into Europe - and the NATO member country has already called on the international alliance to provide military assistance in the event that ISIS fighters breach the border.

Despite the symbolic raising of the flag, the town's brave Kurdish defenders earlier claimed that the terrorists had not reached the city centre and would not be allowed to do so 'for as long as we live'.



But ISIS are believed to have now taken the town's industrial zone in the east - as hundreds of civilians flee to the Turkish border.

Meanwhile, Turkish tanks were massing across the hillsides just miles away, with soldiers standing atop ready to fire.

Turkey has announced that NATO has drawn up a strategy to defend the country if it is attacked along its border with Syria, ABC News reports.

Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz yesterday said that NATO had done this at Turkey's request, adding: 'If there is an attack, NATO's joint defence mechanism will be activated.'

NATO's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also spoke yesterday, claiming that the alliance had 'deployed Patriot missiles in Turkey to enhance and strengthen' the country's air defence.

He added: 'The main responsibility for NATO is to protect all allied countries. Turkey is a NATO ally and our main responsibility is to protect the integrity, the borders of Turkey,' NBC News reports.

Local sources inside Kobane confirmed the group had planted its flag but said that Kurdish forces had repelled their advances so far. At least 20 ISIS militants have so far been killed in their assault on the city yesterday - following the deaths of more than 45 fighters on each side on Sunday.

Turkish tanks are seen along the border with Syria as fighting between Kurdish forces and ISIS militants continues to rage in the nearby Syrian town of Kobane

Charlie Cooper, a spokesman at the Quilliam Foundation, a British counter-extremism think tank, said: ‘The fall of Kobani is perilously close, if not inevitable. It is most likely there will be mass execution of those left fighting. Kobani is important symbolically because it is the last pocket of resistance in northern Syria for hundreds of miles.’

Jenan Moussa, a reporter for the Dubai-based network Al Aan, who is on the border, said there were fears in Kobani that ‘all will be killed’.

She posted a series of tweets, including: ‘Isis used booby trAlan Henning calls for David Cameron to send troops to ...apped cars to force their way through Kurdish defence lines in Kobani.’ Another read: ‘Isis entered #Kobani from both east & west. They are in the city. Street fights raging.’

Kobane is a town of key strategic importance to both ISIS and the Kurdish resistance due to its close proximity to the largely porous Turkish border.

While the city centre is roughly six miles from the barbed wire fence that separates Turkey from Syria, the city's northern suburbs are so close to Turkey that civilians in the Turkish town of Mursitpinar have been able to watch the fighting with binoculars.

Yesterday morning Kurdish fighters inside Kobane - which is also known as Ayn al-Arab and situated right on the Turkish border - declared that U.S.-led airstrikes against ISIS targets in northern Syria have had little impact on the militant group, who have continued to seize swathes of territory.

'ISIL have only planted a flag on one building on the eastern side of town,' said Ismail Eskin, a journalist in the town, using an alternative acronym for ISIS.

'That is not inside the city, it's on the eastern side. They are not inside the city. Intense clashes are continuing,' he added.

ISIS has been battling to seize the predominantly Kurdish town after taking over large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq in recent months.

Air strikes by American and Gulf state warplanes have failed to halt the advance of the Islamists, who have besieged the town from three sides and pounded it with heavy artillery.

'During the day sometimes IS makes advances but YPG pushes them back. There are clashes within the vicinity, but they are not inside the city, YPG is resisting,' said Pawer Mohammed Ali, a translator for the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) inside Kobane.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a statement from the Kurdish force known as the People's Protection Units, or YPG, said more than 45 fighters on both sides were killed yesterday near Kobane - including a Kurdish female fighter who blew herself up, killing several jihadists.

Kobane and the surrounding areas have been under attack since mid-September, with ISIS capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages.

The assault has forced some 160,000 Syrians to flee - many of them across the porous border into neighboring Turkey - and has strained Kurdish forces, who have struggled to push back the extremists despite being aided by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes.

ISIS PLOTTING TROJAN HORSE CAMPAIGN BY SMUGGLING MILITANTS INTO EUROPE DISGUISED AS REFUGEES

ISIS is plotting to smuggle militants into Western Europe disguised as refugees so that they can launch devastating terror attacks, according to US intelligence sources.

Encrypted communications unravelled by American military intelligence have revealed that Islamic State leaders are planning to take advantage of the 'chaotic conditions' on the Syria-Turkey crossing.

Relaxed border controls would allow IS militants to blend in with the thousands of genuine refugees spilling over the border in search of safety.

The Trojan Horse tactic would see fighters equipped with fake passports, leaving them free to travel around European countries and plot terrorist attacks unchecked.

A US intelligence source, speaking to German newspaper Bild, said that ISIS was moving away from plans to conduct aircraft hijackings for fear of tight security - and that they were looking to land a new strategy.

'In view of the chaotic conditions on the Syria-Turkey border, it is nearly impossible to catch Isis terrorists in the wave of refugees,' wrote Bild.

Because hundreds of refugees cross the Syrian-Turkish border every day, the jihadists have a good chance of remaining unnoticed in the crowds.

On the Turkish side of the border, at least 14 Turkish army tanks took up defensive positions on a hilltop near Kobane.

Heavy bombardment could be heard down below as plumes of smoke rose from the town.

A shell from the fighting struck a house and a small grocery store across the border in Turkey yesterday morning, but no one was wounded. At least four people were injured in a similar incident yesterday.

Despite mortars raining down on residential areas in Kobane and the stray fire hitting Turkish territory, Kurdish pleas for help have so far largely gone unanswered.

ISIS wants to take Kobane 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.

Turkish forces fire tear gas to disperse Kurds on the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border, as news cameramen also run for cover amongst the group

Link to Full Article Pics and Videos:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... paign=1490

[Anthea]

new group of ISIS members(about 80) entered GireSpi from Turkey border crossing and headed towards Kobani. #TwitterKurds

Unconfirmed but would not suprise me

[Anthea]

Reuters

Street fighting rages in Syrian town as Islamic State moves in
By Daren Butler

Street fighting raged between Kurdish defenders and Islamic State militants who advanced into Kobani on Monday after subjecting the Syrian border town to an assault lasting almost three weeks, residents and fighters said.

Islamic State had earlier raised its black flag over a building in the outskirts and forced thousands more of Kobani's mainly Kurdish inhabitants to flee for their lives across the nearby border into Turkey.

The head of the Kurdish forces defending the town said late on Monday that Islamic State forces were 300 metres inside Kobani's eastern district and were shelling the remaining neighbourhoods.

"We either die or win. No fighter is leaving," Esmat al-Sheikh, leader of the Kobani Defence Authority, told Reuters. "The world is watching, just watching and leaving these monsters to kill everyone, even children...but we will fight to the end with what weapons we have."

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.

Strikes by American and Gulf state warplanes have failed to halt Islamic State's advance on the town, which it has besieged from three sides and pounded with heavy artillery.

Forced to flee Kobani by the latest fighting, frightened residents crossed into Turkey through Yumurtalik, an improvised border crossing, and ambulances with blaring sirens shuttled back and forth between the Syrian town and Turkey.

"We can hear the sound of clashes on the street," Parwer Ali Mohamed, a translator for the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), told Reuters by phone as he fled. "More than 2,000 people including women and children are being evacuated. Turkish police are checking our luggage now."

A black flag belonging to Islamic State was visible from across the Turkish border atop a four-storey building close to the scene of some of the fiercest clashes in recent days.

Mortars have rained down on residential areas of Kobani, and stray fire has hit Turkish territory frequently in recent days wounding people and damaging houses.

Islamic State also fought intense battles over the weekend for control of Mistanour, a strategic hill overlooking Kobani. A video released by the group on Sunday appeared to show its fighters in control of radio masts on the summit, but the footage could not be independently confirmed.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party called for street demonstrations in Turkey to protest at Islamic State's assault on Kobani, where the situation was "extremely critical".

Militants also carried out two suicide attacks in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakah, the Observatory said, killing at least 30 people.

"The attacks targeted checkpoints run by Kurdish fighters on the western entrance of the city. They occurred within minutes of each other," Abdelrahman said.

ONCE A HAVEN

Until recently, Kobani had hardly been touched by the civil war that has ravaged much of Syria, and even offered a haven for refugees from fighting elsewhere, as President Bashar al-Assad chose to let the Kurdish population have virtual autonomy.

But beheadings, mass killings and torture have spread fear of Islamic State across the region, with villages emptying at its approach and an estimated 180,000 people fleeing into Turkey from the Kobani region.

On Sunday, a female Kurdish fighter blew herself up rather than be captured by Islamic State after running out of ammunition, local sources and a monitoring group reported.

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 combat experience were being armed and sent into battle.

Speaking last week, the co-chair of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) told Reuters that Islamic State had brought large parts of its arsenal from its de facto capital at Raqqa, 140 km to the southeast, to the assault on Kobani.

"We are happy about the U.S. air strikes," Aysa Abdullah said. "But really, this is not enough. We need more air strikes to be effective against (Islamic State) weapons, to eradicate and destroy (them)."

In neighbouring Iraq, the U.S. military said it had flown Apache helicopters against Islamic State rebels for the first time, striking mortar teams and other units near the western town of Fallujah.

APPEAL TO TURKEY

On Monday, Kurdish politicians confirmed that the PYD's other co-chair, Saleh Muslim, had met Turkish officials to urge them to allow weapons into Kobani from Turkey.

Turkey has so far made no move to join the fight against Islamic State close to its borders, beyond returning fire at Islamic State fighters in response to mortar shells landing on Turkish territory.

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.

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

But Ankara is wary of helping Syrian Kurdish forces near Kobani as they have strong links with the PKK, which the Turkish state fought for three decades.

(Additional reporting by Hamdi Istanbullu in Mursitpinar, Mariam Karouny in Beirut, Ayla Jean Yackley and Humeyra Pamuk in Istanbul; Writing by Jonny Hogg and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Giles Elgood and Dominic Evans)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/10/0 ... 7S20141006

[Anthea]

The Guardian

Isis militants enter Kobani on Syria's border with Turkey

Battles reported between Islamic State and Kurdish defenders in key Syrian town, with Turkish forces massed on other side

Islamic State fighters backed by tanks and artillery have pushed into Kobani, an embattled and strategically important Syrian town on the border with Turkey, touching off heavy street battles with its Kurdish defenders.

Hours after two Isis flags were raised on the outskirts of Kobani, the militants punctured the Kurdish front lines and advanced into the town itself, said the Local Co-ordination Committees activist collective and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“They’re fighting inside the city. Hundreds of civilians have left,” said Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman. “Islamic State controls three neighbourhoods on the eastern side of Kobani. They are trying to enter the town from the southwest as well.”

The centre of the town was still in Kurdish hands, Abdurrahman said. Kurdish officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

Since it began its offensive in mid-September, Isis has barrelled through one Kurdish village after another as it closed in on its main target: the town of Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab. The assault has forced 160,000 Syrians to flee and put a strain on Kurdish forces, who have struggled to hold off the extremists even with the aid of US-led air strikes.

Capturing Kobani would give Isis a direct link between its positions in the Syrian province of Aleppo and its stronghold of Raqqa to the east. It would crush a lingering pocket of resistance and give the group full control of a large stretch of the Turkish-Syrian border.

After initially setting up positions to the east, south and west of the town, Isis shelled Kobani for days to try to loosen up its defences. Just across the frontier in Turkey artillery, gunfire and smoke testified to the intensity of the fight all day on Monday.

“Isis is advancing further toward Kobani day by day,” said Ismet Sheikh Hassan, the defence chief for Kurdish forces in the area. “Isis is fighting with tanks and heavy weapons and they are firing randomly at Kobani. There are many civilian casualties because of the shelling.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said about 20 Islamic State fighters managed to sneak into the eastern part of Kobani over Monday night but were ambushed and killed by Kurdish militiamen.

Syrian Kurdish forces have long been among the most effective adversaries of Isis, keeping the extremists out of the Kurdish enclave in north-eastern Syria even as the militants routed the armed forces of both Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

But in recent weeks the Kurds have struggled to counter the increasingly well-armed militants, who have been strengthened by heavy weapons looted from captured Syrian and Iraqi military bases.

As fighting raged on Monday within sight of the Turkish border, the country’s defence minister, Ismet Yilmaz, said Nato had drawn up a strategy to defend Turkey, a Nato member, in the event of attack along the frontier with Syria. The Nato move came at Turkey’s request, said Yilmaz.

On Monday at least 14 Turkish tanks took up defensive positions on a hilltop on Turkish soil near the beseiged town, while a shell from the fighting struck a house and a grocery store inside Turkey but no one was wounded.

Monday’s heavy clashes followed a particularly bloody Sunday when more than 45 fighters on both sides were killed, according to the Observatory and a statement from the Kurdish force known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG.

The dead included a Kurdish female fighter who blew herself up, killing 10 jihadists, said Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman. A YPG statement identified the suicide attacker as Deilar Kanj Khamis, better known by her military name, Arin Mirkan.

Khamis was a member of the Women’s Protection Units, a branch of the main Kurdish militia. The force has more than 10,000 female fighters who have played a major role in the battles against Isis, said Nasser Haj Mansour, a defence official in Syria’s Kurdish region.

Haj Mansour said that after Kurdish fighters were forced on Sunday to withdraw from a strategic hill south of Kobani, Khamis stayed behind, and as Isis fighters moved in she attacked them with gunfire and grenades, eventually blowing herself up. The Kurds then recaptured the position.

Syria’s Kurds have been lobbying for greater support from the international community to help them in their fight against the Islamic State militants. While the US-led coalition has carried out some air strikes against militant positions around Kobani, those strikes have failed to blunt the extremists’ advance.

Ban Ki-moon, was gravely concerned about the offensive by Isis on Kobani, according to a statement released by his spokesperson. In light of the “barbarous campaign” waged by Isis the UN secretary general “urgently calls on all those with the means to do so to take immediate action to protect the beleaguered civilian population of Ayn al-Arab”.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/o ... CMP=twt_gu

[Piling]

Where is Salih Muslim now ?

[Anthea]

CIVILIANS STILL IN KOBANE, MANY OF WHOM ELDERS & THOSE WITH HEALTH CONDITIONS

[Anthea]

http://youtu.be/Z5mMqwf1fVw

Where is Salih Muslim now ?

I have never liked Salih Muslim

I have never trusted Salih Muslim

Now I just HATE him with a passion