Kobane: IS and Syria Kurds in fierce gun battles

From BBC

Kurdish fighters are engaged in fierce gun battles with Islamic State (IS) in the Syrian border town of Kobane, as US-led coalition air strikes continue. In its latest report, the US Central Command said six air strikes had destroyed IS weaponry around Kobane.

An official inside Kobane said the Kurdish forces were now pushing back the Islamic State fighters.
Seizing Kobane would give the IS jihadists full control of a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border. This has been a primary route for foreign fighters getting into Syria, as well as allowing IS to traffic oil from oilfields it has captured.

Three weeks of fighting over Kobane has cost the lives of 400 people, and forced more than 160,000 Syrians to flee across the border to Turkey.

Two days after fighters from Islamic State entered Kobane, a battle is raging for the town's eastern streets. We reached the border, within a few hundred yards of the fighting, and I have rarely heard anything quite like it.

At times, it seems dozens of weapons are firing at once, and there are regular grenade explosions too. Thick black smoke is rising from buildings on fire.

US-led coalition air strikes have been concentrated on the western reaches of the city, where the IS advance seems to have been halted. Jets can still be heard flying overhead.

A senior official in Kobane, Idriss Nassan, told news agencies the IS militants had suffered "their biggest retreat since their entry into the city" and that many had been killed.

"They are now outside the entrances of the city of Kobane. The shelling and bombardment was very effective and as a result of it, IS has been pushed from many positions."

But he added: "Kobane is still in danger and the air strikes should intensify in order to remove the danger."

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group also said that IS fighters had withdrawn from several areas they had earlier controlled. US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday the US was "deeply concerned about the people of Kobane".


But he said: "Horrific as it is to watch the violence, it is important to keep in mind the US strategic objective" which was to deprive IS of command and control centres and the infrastructure to carry out attacks.

The US Central Command listed the damage done by six coalition air strikes south and south-west of Kobane over Tuesday and Wednesday.

It said an armoured personnel carrier, four "armed vehicles" and two artillery pieces were destroyed.
There were three further air strikes on IS in other parts of Syria and five in Iraq. Correspondents reported at least four more air strikes around Kobane on Wednesday afternoon.

The leader of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Unity Party (PYD) said the situation remained very serious, with fighters from its armed wing, the Popular Protection Units (YPG), under intense pressure. "There is heavy fighting going on by YPG forces and they're trying to defend the civilians," Salih Muslim said. "There is a very large operation against them."

Turkey remains under intense pressure to do more to help the Kurdish forces fighting in Kobane.
At least 18 people have been killed in Kurdish protests over Turkey's role.

Kurds are angry that Turkey has prevented fighters crossing the border to fight IS in Kobane. Last week Turkey's parliament also authorised military action against the jihadists in Iraq and Syria, but so far no action has been taken.