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KURDISH FIGHTERS THWARTED a bid by Islamic State group jihadists to advance into the centre of the battleground Syrian town of Kobane early today, a monitoring group said.
The attack came after the IS militants overran Kurdish headquarters in the border town on Friday, sparking fears they would cut off the last escape route to neighbouring Turkey for hundreds of mainly elderly civilians still in the town centre.
The IS assault sparked 90 minutes of heavy fighting with the town’s Kurdish defenders before the jihadists fell back, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
US-led coalition warplanes also carried out two air strikes on IS targets south and east of the town early Saturday, according to the Britain-based monitoring group, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria.
Small groups of Kurdish fighters were trying to harry the encircling jihadists with operations across the front line, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura warned Friday that 12,000 or so civilians still in or near Kobane, including 700 mainly elderly people in the town centre, “will most likely be massacred” by IS if the town falls.
Kobane was “literally surrounded” except for one narrow entry and exit point to the Turkish border, de Mistura said.
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C’mon the Kurds knock the shite outta them lunatics!
Annihilate them! Especially the “European” ones.
Yep, send this vermin to paradise.
where you saying the same thing when they where ousting Gadaffi a couple of years back?
wont you put on your British boots and go over and do it yourself
Well, if this place falls, most civilians will flee, anyone left will be massacred in the peaceful name of Allah, so, if the place is carpet bombed then, only the animals will be there to receive it…..
Turkey should be taking action to defend the Kurds from those lunatics, they have a lot to answer for
We have to acknowledge that this is a tough one for Turkey – an internal Kurdish separatist/terrorist campaign is not over that long, they hate Assad AND ISIS is fighting both.
A pox on both your houses Turkey and the US. Especially Turkey. The cold blooded policies of Erdogan will lead to a massacre here. The U.S. just stands by. It’s inexcusable.
Speaking tonight, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, suggested that preventing the fall of Kobani was not a strategic US objective. “As horrific as it is to watch in real time what is happening in Kobani, you have to step back and understand the strategic objective,” he said.
Excuse me? WTF is this? When you hear them coming out with this sort of talk you know there’s a more sinister game going on here with the US.
What are you talking about ‘the US just stands by’? Have you missed all their air strikes? They are doing more than any foreign country to combat IS. Do you really expect them to send ground troops into Syria? If they did then you’d be on here condemning them for invading another Muslim country
Peter, have you seen many airstrikes hitting ISIL? All the reports I’ve heard is that they are hitting infrastructure and not these terrorists. There is a darker game at play here, you know what the US did to Libya, and if you think the US wouldn’t covertly support a group like this, they threw all their weight in airstrikes in support of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in the 80′s, you think any things changed? They’re just getting worse at hiding it.
If they were in anyway serious about taking on ISIL, they would be coordinating these strikes with the Syrian Army.
According to reports,Ergodan wont involve Turkish forces in Syria unless NATO unilaterally agree to oust Assad (NATO members cant agree on this). So basically he’s being a spoiled brat until he gets his way.
That will wake the Russian bear, wont it..?
US “Air strikes” on ISIS.
Dr.Frankenstein tickling its monster with feather
Joe, “all the reports I’ve heard” ? Do you know someone on the ground? Are you privy to intelligence over there? Or are you watching all those YouTube videos again?
Good to know you’re capable of asking questions Deco, now why don’t you point them in a good direction.
“they threw all their weight in airstrikes in support of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in the 80′s”
That is so wrong it’s laughable. Nothing in that sentence is true. As a mater of fact Pol Pot even left in 1979.
“Dr.Frankenstein tickling its monster with feather”
So I guess you are one of those “people” who think the US created ISIS?
WJ, this is not just a US problem…..it is a world problem, caused mainly by the US I agree, but it has been brewing for a long time now. We have to move on from blaming to actually trying to stem the flow of IS.
Anyone who questions some of the losers here gets insulted as usual here, so, today, I will not question you Joe.
Looks a bit like Warsaw Uprising with Turks looking on to see who wins
Their air strikes are just token gestures. Are you telling me an Air Force that torched a retreating Iraqi army of thousands from Kuwait can’t decimate IS forces from the sky? You are indeed naive if you think the U.S. is making a real effort here. No, they are appeasing Erdogan and nobody gives a crap about the Kurds who are facing a massacre.
You sir are an idiot. We are burnt out from Afghanistan and Iraq.. We have a weak leader in Obama. Kerry is trying doublespeak his way in a sorry run air war…Save your conspiracy theories, It is as the world sees it…. Pol Pot… WTF?
Deploy ground troops and save innocent people before ISIS kill them all.
http://www.sgoal.org/Western-countries-should-deploy-military-troops-for-ground-operations-in-Iraq-and-Syria-to-effectively-distroy-ISIS
No, they should just back the Syrian Arab Army, because they, along with Hezbollah are the only ones really fighting terrorism at the moment.
“No, they should just back the Syrian Arab Army, because they, along with Hezbollah are the only ones really fighting terrorism at the moment.”
Sooo the terrorist organization. Hezbollah, is fighting another terrorist organization.
Big woop. Once it’s over guess what they will still be, TERRORISTS.
And the Kurdish PKK who have, also, mobilised against ISIS are also considered a proscribed organisation in the west. Basically, anyone who has ever picked up a firearm in the middle east has been (or will be eventually) considered, alternately, a terrorist or ally of the west. Depending on the vagaries of Washington and which direction the wind is blowing.
Wake up ! Who have the Syrian Kurds attacked … Oh yes IS IS IS
Who saved the Yazidis on the mountain ? Kurds again.
All the PKK is doing is fighting for their own homes same as the Irish and Mandela does that make them terrorists.
I supported Gadaffi fighting these lunatics and the same here, how many who want isis destroyed were happy when they overthrew Gadaffi
How complicated is it to organise an air strike?
Good guys are in the town, the bad guys are trying to get into the town.
Drop the bombs on the guys outside the town.
The air strikes are near continuous, but the front line is fluid and the USAF (and allies) don’t have their normal battlefield target spotters on the ground.
They are already in the town. The time you could have hit their columns hard was days ago… And Obama waffled.
Deploy ground troops and save innocent people before genocide happen.
http://www.sgoal.org/Western-countries-should-deploy-military-troops-for-ground-operations-in-Iraq-and-Syria-to-effectively-distroy-ISIS
The Kurds can’t possibly stand up against IS. A quote in todays NYT is “we kill them but they just keep coming”……this town is going to fall and IS will show no mercy to the people living in the town.
A top general was interviewed in American tv last week-end and admitted that ground forces were ultimately going to be needed. The minute the West send in troops will begin the beginning of WW3.
This is not what anyone wants but this region is a threat to the rest of the world.
I am not a scaremonger but I can see no other option open to the West. While I am very disappointed by the Presidency of Barak Obama he didn’t stand a chance of bring the peace to the world he so badly wanted. He is the wrong president at the wrong time.
As a pacifist none of this gives me any peace……
have your say