Nizar al-Khatib, the commander of a Free Syrian Army Commander (FSA) unit fighting alongside Kurds in Kobane, speaks to the media in Istanbul.
A 25-year-old protester was reported killed Tuesday in the town of Varto. The private Dogan news agency said he was killed by gunfire, while the state-run Anadolu Agency reported that he was hit by a gas canister. kobane news The pro-Kurdish Firat news agency also reported the death. UN's @SigridKaag said 4 facilities identified that regime failed to declare. Must keep pressure on regime so it doesn't hide CW capability.
While the PKK and PYD may lose on the battlefield, they can win politically. The loss will strengthen the PKK's claim to being the leader of the Kurdish nationalist movement vis-à-vis its main rival, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Iraqi Kurdish President Massoud Barzani, who has followed a policy for most of the Syrian conflict of alliance with Turkey and hostility towards the PKK/PYD. Although there has been a softening of relations between the Kurdish factions, many Kurds in Turkey and Syria view it as too little, too late.
Meanwhile a Turkish nurse went public with a letter to parliament and several media organizations, detailing how she has treated many wounded ISIS members and higher-ups at the private hospital she works at, and now is "sick and tired" of treating people "who chop off heads." She says the people arrive there under false name and are introduced as Syrian "opposition members". Several details are given.
That the Peshmerga units may travel via Turkey to Syria, was long disputed: Because the PKK is classified in Turkey and in the EU and in the USA still a terrorist organization, Ankara hesitated so, send their fighters in Kobane Help leave. Time and again, Kurdish volunteers who wanted to join the People's protection units, rejected by Turkish border guards. Feminism as a political culture bores me but in this instance the right men for the job just happens to be women.
A US military airdrop of weapons meant for Kurdish fighters fell into the hands of the Islamic State group near the Syrian battleground town of Kobane. The US Air Force parachuted crates of weapons, ammunition and medical supplies on Sunday night to resupply Kurds defending the Syrian town of Kobane from IS militants. I told Obama that the PYD is in the same class as the PKK. I said it is also a terrorist organization,” Mr. Erdogan said.
The shipment was the first of its kind and followed weeks of air strikes around Kobane, near the Turkish border. US Central Command said C-130 cargo planes made multiple drops of supplies, which were provided by Kurdish authorities kobane news in Iraq. Iraqi Kurds engaged in heavy fighting in the besieged Syrian town of Kobani Sunday, while elsewhere in Syria Western backed rebels have blamed U.S. airstrikes for one of their worst defeats in months.
IS also detained dozens of members of the Jubur tribe in Salaheddin province, north of Baghdad, officials and a tribal leader said. Heavily armed Iraqi peshmerga forces have reached the Turkish border and a first group have entered the town of Kobani as they prepare to join fellow Kurds battling the Islamic State group. There it linked up with a second group of peshmerga, but it was unclear when the main force would cross into Kobani.
On Wednesday, YPG commanders, fighters, and activists in Kobane described the situation in and around the city—only a few hundred feet from the Turkish border—as increasingly desperate. After an early morning offensive, the jihadists had moved to within four to six miles of the town, Hesen said in a phone call with a reporter from Bloomberg Businessweek and two colleagues. The most intense clashes were taking place on the southern front, he said, where the Kurds were trying to hang on to a key stronghold, a hill overlooking the city.
Aerial footage of the town, which the IS group has stamped as having been shot by a "drone of the Islamic State Army", shows a wrecked city with a street layout that corresponds to that of the pre-war satellite maps of Kobane. In the video released on Monday, Cantlie dismisses reports that IS forces have failed in their assault on the Kurdish town, declaring that they hold the east and south of Kobane and that their victory there is only a matter of time.
Meanwhile a Turkish nurse went public with a letter to parliament and several media organizations, detailing how she has treated many wounded ISIS members and higher-ups at the private hospital she works at, and now is "sick and tired" of treating people "who chop off heads." She says the people arrive there under false name and are introduced as Syrian "opposition members". Several details are given.
That the Peshmerga units may travel via Turkey to Syria, was long disputed: Because the PKK is classified in Turkey and in the EU and in the USA still a terrorist organization, Ankara hesitated so, send their fighters in Kobane Help leave. Time and again, Kurdish volunteers who wanted to join the People's protection units, rejected by Turkish border guards. Feminism as a political culture bores me but in this instance the right men for the job just happens to be women.
A US military airdrop of weapons meant for Kurdish fighters fell into the hands of the Islamic State group near the Syrian battleground town of Kobane. The US Air Force parachuted crates of weapons, ammunition and medical supplies on Sunday night to resupply Kurds defending the Syrian town of Kobane from IS militants. I told Obama that the PYD is in the same class as the PKK. I said it is also a terrorist organization,” Mr. Erdogan said.
The shipment was the first of its kind and followed weeks of air strikes around Kobane, near the Turkish border. US Central Command said C-130 cargo planes made multiple drops of supplies, which were provided by Kurdish authorities kobane news in Iraq. Iraqi Kurds engaged in heavy fighting in the besieged Syrian town of Kobani Sunday, while elsewhere in Syria Western backed rebels have blamed U.S. airstrikes for one of their worst defeats in months.
IS also detained dozens of members of the Jubur tribe in Salaheddin province, north of Baghdad, officials and a tribal leader said. Heavily armed Iraqi peshmerga forces have reached the Turkish border and a first group have entered the town of Kobani as they prepare to join fellow Kurds battling the Islamic State group. There it linked up with a second group of peshmerga, but it was unclear when the main force would cross into Kobani.
On Wednesday, YPG commanders, fighters, and activists in Kobane described the situation in and around the city—only a few hundred feet from the Turkish border—as increasingly desperate. After an early morning offensive, the jihadists had moved to within four to six miles of the town, Hesen said in a phone call with a reporter from Bloomberg Businessweek and two colleagues. The most intense clashes were taking place on the southern front, he said, where the Kurds were trying to hang on to a key stronghold, a hill overlooking the city.
Aerial footage of the town, which the IS group has stamped as having been shot by a "drone of the Islamic State Army", shows a wrecked city with a street layout that corresponds to that of the pre-war satellite maps of Kobane. In the video released on Monday, Cantlie dismisses reports that IS forces have failed in their assault on the Kurdish town, declaring that they hold the east and south of Kobane and that their victory there is only a matter of time.
EDITOR: All very clever. It will certainly convince the simple minded. The fact is that the Islamic State do not control all of Kobane. They still hold around 50%, perhaps a little more, as illustrated in the map below (scroll down to earlier report - IS-held territory is in black). As you will see from that map, it is very easy to stand on the roof of a house in the north-eastern part of that IS-held territory and report with Turkey in the background.
Turkey says the scope of the campaign in Syria should be broadened to seek to remove Assad from power. It has sought a no-fly zone in northern Syria, which would require the coalition to take on Assad's air force as well as Islamic State, 
Tanks and armoured vehicles were deployed to impose curfews in the predominantly Kurdish cities of Diyarbakir, Batman, Bingol, and Van, as well as other areas. Mr Erdogan's calculation that the Kurds cannot afford to open a second front against Turkey while they are grappling with the jihadists is being tested. Mr Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development party may be hurt by the turmoil, especially if it scares off foreign investors before parliamentary elections due to be held next summer.
