Islamic State steps up attack

Islamic State steps up attack on Syrian town of Kobane

Paul Adams

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.

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.

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.

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.