5 Fast Facts You Need To Know

CHARLOTTE, NC, October 16, 2014 - According to accounts by the London paper The Guardian,” American-led airstrikes have slowed the Islamic State's kobane news advance to a limited degree, but they have done little halt the massacre of innocent Kurds in the gateway city to Turkey along the Syrian border. The BBC's Kasra Naji, on the border near Kobane, says there is an air of optimism among the Kurdish militia, and a belief that they could drive IS out of the town in a few days. Our correspondent says coalition aircraft now appeared to be targeting a single location, suggesting that this is probably the last neighbourhood in the town held by IS after its strength was degraded by heavy strikes on Tuesday. One expert with personal experience of treating mustard gas victims said that, although the blisters were not typical, the symptoms overall were consistent with a possible sulphur mustard poisoning. That could only be confirmed with a urine or blood test. Other experts said that while the symptoms could be consistent with exposure to a chemical agent, they were somewhat unusual and other medical conditions, such as a severe allergic reaction, would need to be ruled out. I do not think there are lots of civilians left in the city, except the fighters, and we can see the ambulances running with casualities to the Turkish borders all the day. We can't go inside or even close to kobane news Kobani to join the fighters because of the Turkish army. Some people tried to go home through barbed wire to bring some food and blankets, but they could not reach the city under the nonstop heavy clashes. Turkish forces in riot gear prepare to confront potential Kurdish demonstrators at the Turkey-Syria border, Oct. 5, 2014. A formation of U.S. Navy F-18E Super Hornets supporting operations against ISIS leaves after receiving kobane news fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker over Iraq, in this photo released by the U.S. Air Force, Oct. 4, 2014. Kobane was "literally surrounded" except for one narrow entry and exit point to the Turkish border, de Mistura said. Thank you ROAR for another article on the situation. I just wanted to point out as a person from Cyprus that there is no Greek Cyprus. There are different ways to explain the geographic position but Greek Cyprus reinforces the nationalist views! Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has engineered a dangerous game of blackmail, using the massacre of Kurds as collateral while warning that Kobani is about to fall.

Greenhill relates the story of Ahmed Bakki who was once a farmed in a village close to Kobane. Bakki said his 48-year old cousin, the father of seven, remained in Kobane after his family fled. In an attempt to make contact, Bakki called his cousin but ISIS answered the phone. The voice at the other end of the line said, We've got his head and we're taking it to Jarabulus.” Jarabulus is an ISIS stronghold. The fighting has only intensified in the region in recent days, with ISIS nearly surrounding Kobani, not far from Turkey's border. Remaining civilians were ordered Thursday to evacuate and headed to the border, as Kurdish fighters declared their readiness to take on the ISIS militants in street warfare. A CNN team nearby could hear bursts of small arms fire - suggesting close-quarters fighting - that appeared to be coming from around the southwest part of the city. Washington's air campaign, launched in Iraq on August 8 and extended into Syria on September 23, was designed to halt the advance of the IS group to buy time to build up moderate” rebel forces in Syria and Baghdad government and Kurdish troops in Iraq. But despite the bombing raids, the IS jihadists have continued to gain ground in some areas, including around the key town of Kobane near the Turkish border. A few days ago, in the bus back to Urfa from Suruç, a man started talking to me. Introducing himself as Müslüm, a 31-year old Kurdish activist from around Suruç, he told me about his brother, who is currently fighting with the kobane news YPG in Kobanê. Müslüm hasn't spoken to him for over five months, as any contact with Turkish volunteers fighting with the YPG in Rojava would put him and other family members back home at risk of arrest by Turkish authorities.