US Cargo Planes Drop Arms To Kurds Fighting For Kobane

Siar took a bullet in the foot, one in the leg, and another in the back. His tale is one of brutal combat in the battle for the Syrian border city of Kobane. Weeks of airstrikes on ISIS positions around Kobani have failed to break the siege. Syrian Kurds and their international allies hope the arrival of the peshmerga, along with heavier weapons, can turn the tide. Adham Basho, a member of the Syrian Kurdish kobane news National Council from Kobani, confirmed that a group of between 90 and 100 fighters had stopped in Sanliurfa in southeastern Turkey overnight. A separate group of peshmerga was traveling to the Turkish border region by land with heavier weapons. Long before the battle for Kobanê was under media spotlight, the CWI highlighted the need for building everywhere in the region democratically-run, non-sectarian bodies as the basis for organising a mass popular defence not only against IS, but also against any other religious extremist groups, against the brutal and sectarian forces of the Syrian and Iraqi regimes, and against imperialist intervention - the latter being largely responsible for the growth of the jihadist gangs now assaulting Kobanê. The subsequent picture remains shrouded in ambiguity, as Turkey officially denies any relationship with Islamic State. But the release of 49 Turkish hostages by the terror movement this week under unclear circumstances has once more cast a spotlight on the possible complex connection between the two. Yet the clash itself offers a broader lesson regarding the shape of things to come, in the ethnic/sectarian war now raging across what was once Iraq and Syria. The arrival of the first Peshmerga comes a day after a group of Syrian Arab rebels entered the town also to fight against IS, aided by US-led coalition air strikes. Another two air strikes by US forces damaged kobane news an IS headquarters building near Deir ez-Zor and a security building near Raqqa. IS militants mounted unsuccessful attacks overnight on a border crossing and an entry and exit point into Kobane. According to the prime minister of the Kobane canton, Anwar Muslim, the forces have made progress on the western front and are now able to protect the thousands of civilians collected there who are waiting to cross the border into Turkey. Also in the centre of Kobane yesterday was 42-year-old Mohammad, a fighter with the YPG and former farmer who said he watched as his comrades executed 90 Isil prisoners four days ago. The Executive Council of the UK Fire Brigade's Union (FBU) has also issued a statement calling for international trade union solidarity and support for the defenders of Kobane”. Air strikes have also been launched in parts of neighboring Iraq, where ISIS is rapidly making inroads into the Anbar province, and is reportedly advancing on a town just 25 miles from the capital Baghdad.

After weeks of seeming reluctance , coalition forces stepped up the pace of air strikes around Kobani over the weekend. The Pentagon described five strikes around Kobani on Tuesday. Syrian President Bashar Assad has four secret chemical weapons facilities and used them as recently as August, according to a UN briefing. Tensions are especially high in Turkey, where Kurds have fought a 3-decade-long battle for autonomy and where Syria's violence has taken an especially heavy toll. For what it's worth, I don't think this is even some conspiracy by Obama, Kerry and co. I think they still really don't get it. For the past half year or more they've shown they are catching up too little, too late and in no hurry. That actually worries me more than if they knew what they were doing, because at least then they could decide to do things right. I don't think they even know how to. Nevertheless, city authorities said on Saturday that the Kurds were still in control as fighting between the Syrian Kurdish militia (YPG) and IS militants continued, according to Turkey's Doğan News Agency. Ankara has strained relations with the largest ethnic Kurdish minority in the country, which has been demanding a separate state for decades while using both peaceful protests and guerrilla warfare.