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ISIS is now only 3km away from Kobane city center

by S
ISIS sending reinforcements to conquer Kobane, up until now held by revolutionary Kurdish militias. ISIS is 3km from city center. Situation is dire. Apparently US airstrikes have hit all over Syria except around Kobane -- is Washington prodding ISIS on to quash the leftist democratic councils running that region? Will the YPG's egalitarian red star be replaced with religious despotism?
map_sept_24_2014.jpg
(Note: Daesh is arabic for ISIS)

Daesh sends reinforcements to Kobane

Last week group took over dozens of Kurdish villages in the north, forcing 140,000 to flee

Reuters
Published: 14:59 September 24, 2014
Gulf News



Kurdish Syrian refugee children on the Turkish-Syrian border near the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province yesterday. Daesh launched a major offensive against Kobane last week.

Beirut: Daesh has reinforced fighters who are battling Kurdish forces for control of a Syrian town at the border with Turkey, a redeployment triggered by US-led air strikes on the group elsewhere, a Kurdish military official said.

Ocalan Iso, deputy leader of the Kurdish forces defending the town of Kobane at the Turkish border, said more Daesh fighters and tanks had arrived since the US-led coalition began air strikes on the group on Tuesday.

“The number of their fighters has increased, the number of their tanks has increased since the bombardment of Raqqa,” Iso said by telephone. He repeated calls for the US-led coalition to expand its air strikes to Daesh positions near Kobane, which is also known as Ain Al Arab.

“Kobane is in danger,” he said.

The US-led air strikes on Daesh in Syria have so far targeted the provinces of Raqqa, Deir Al Zor and Hasakah.

Daesh launched a major offensive against Kobane last week, forcing nearly 140,000 Syrian Kurds to flee across the border into Turkey within days — the largest and fastest exodus of civilians since the Syrian conflict began in 2011.

Iso said Daesh fighters had advanced to within 8km from the southern periphery of Kobane — closer than they have been at any stage in the latest offensive.

“We call on American forces to hit their positions. They are 8km from Kobane. They were 25km away before,” he said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in the Syrian conflict, earlier reported air strikes on Daesh positions to the west of Kobane by warplanes that appeared to cross from Turkey.

But Kurdish officials in Kobane could not confirm the report, and Turkey said neither its air space nor a US air base in the southern Turkish town of Incirlik had been used in the air strikes.

A group of several dozen Syrian Kurds who had fled the fighting watched from a hillside on the Turkish side of the border as Kurdish fighters battled Daesh militants in a cluster of villages called Siftek. The sound of sporadic artillery and gunfire echoed around the hills.

‘Heavy weapons’

The Kurds appeared to be firing mortars from the back of a truck into a village where Daesh had taken up positions.

“Because of the bombing in Raqqa, Daesh has taken all of their weapons and brought them here. There are more and more Daesh fighters in the last two days, they have brought all their forces here,” said Ahmad Hassan, 60, a Syrian Kurd who fled to Turkey with his family.

“They have heavy weapons. We are running away from them. YPG haven’t got heavy weapons. That’s why we need help,” he said, referring to the main Kurdish armed group.

Idris Nassan, deputy minister for foreign affairs in a Kurdish administration controlling the Kobane area, said Daesh remained around 15km from the town in the east and west but had advanced in the south to within 10km after heavy clashes with Kurdish forces.

“Now I hear the noise of mortars in the south,” he said by telephone. “Daesh gathered heavy forces there. So did the YPG but Daesh pushed them back.”








More Background, Rubin wrote:

Too often when Americans talk about the peshmerga, they forget the Popular Protection Units (YPG) which have fought—and defeated both ISIS and the Syrian regime—long before the KDP and PUK peshmerga joined the fight. I had visited Syrian Kurdistan at the beginning of the year, and wrote about my observations here. More recently, Aliza Marcus and Andrew Apostolou have written along similar lines in the New York Times.

It remains incredible to me that the United States continues to blockade and boycott the only section of Syria that is controlled by a secular group committed to both the destruction of ISIS and one which has given refuge to tens of thousands of Syrians (and now Iraqis) without reference to their religion or ethnicity.
'Kobanê is in danger … We call on American forces to hit their positions’:



I hate war and imperialism as much as the next gal, but the YPG militias are literally asking for our help stopping George W Bush's bastard child from rampaging their lands!
It seems when Washington receives genuine urgent appeals for assistance they're not quite as quick to move as when there's a profit to be made somewhere. If ever an intervention was justified, it is now. Close air support at Kobani would only balancing out the damage the US has done in providing ISIS with modern heavy weapons via the Iraqi army (which caused the current crisis).

If this call is not answered and more people die in Kobani, let it be clear for all of history that the US only intervenes when it sees profits, not when people die. There hasn't been such a clear humanitarian situation since Cambodia (where Vietnamese intervention ended the killing).


‘Kobanê is in danger … We call on American forces to hit ISIS positions’: YPG
Written on September 24, 2014 by Editor in Kobane, Kurd news, Kurdistan, Rojava, Syria, YPG

KT News:KOBANE

YPG leaders have again called for US and allied forces to carry out air strikes on ISIS positions that are getting closer to the Kurdish city of Kobanê. Ocalan Iso, deputy leader of the YPG Kurdish forces defending Kobanê, told Reuters that more ISIS mercenaries and tanks had arrived since the U.S.-led coalition began air strikes on the group on Tuesday.

“The number of their fighters has increased, the number of their tanks has increased since the bombardment of Raqqa,” he said. “Kobanê is in danger”.

Iso said ISIS had advanced to within 8 km (5 miles) of the southern periphery of Kobanê – the closest yet in their latest offensive.

“We call on American forces to hit their positions. They are 8 km from Kobanê. They were 25 km away before,” he said.

Ahmed Hassan, 60, one of tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds who have recently fled across the border to Turkey, told reporters: “Because of the bombing in Raqqa, Islamic State has taken all of their weapons and brought them here. There are more and more Islamic State fighters in the last two days, they have brought all their forces here,”

However, the YPG continues to fiercely resist. Firat quotes a YPG statement today about several villages it has re-captured from the jihadists.

There are reports of air strikes last night on ISIS positions near villages west of Kobanê and close to the Turkish border, but these are not fully confirmed and they have not served to reduce the ISIS pressure on Kobanê, a city of half a million people. Syrian Kurd leaders have called on the US coalition to coordinate its air strikes with YPG fighters who are confronting ISIS on the ground.




http://kurdistantribune.com/2014/kobane-danger-call-on-american-forces-hit-their-positions-ypg/


“Don’t worry, guys, we won’t leave Kobane...I’m ready to be executed by Isis but I’m not ready to leave my town. Whether the world helps us or not, we will defend our city.” -- besieged YPG figher in Kobane

It is important to understanding the article below that USN is NOT bombing near Kobane,where 80% of ISIS forces are besieging the modern day equivalent of the Paris Commune, a bastion of libertarian socialist thought and worker coops.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-air-strikes-us-attacks-are-failing-to-slow-isis-advance-say-desperate-kurds-in-kobane-9754110.html


From the London Independent Newspaper:



Syria air strikes: US attacks are failing to slow Isis advance, say desperate Kurds in Kobane

Defenders on Syria’s Turkish border claim America's bombs have had little effect
Isabel Hunter, in Suruc Turkey

Wednesday 24 September 2014


American air strikes have done little to dislodge Isis fighters trying to take a major Kurdish city on the Turkish border, Kurdish fighters and commanders have said.

They described the desperate battle to stop the Isis advance on Kobane which shelters a population of at least 200,000.

One described how a friend stopped an Isis assault by dropping a bomb through a tank hatch, killing himself as well. “He just couldn’t take seeing the tanks bombing the village and killing so many people,” said a young fighter of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), “He ran forward, opened the top and held the bomb while it exploded the tank.”

Blood still seeping through his bandage with metal pins securing his crushed lower leg, the injured fighter described how his battalion fought Isis militants who appeared to be high on drugs in the village of Tel Gazal in Kobane province on Tuesday: “We retreated into the village and hid to set an ambush when they attacked. They came with 10 cars with heavy machine guns strapped on top and four tanks.”

YPG fighters managed to destroy two of their cars, the fighter said, before his friend made his fatal attack, causing the Isis fighters to temporarily retreat.

Fighting has intensified on the southern front where the Kurdish YPG, bolstered by hundreds of Turkish Kurdish fighters and Free Syrian Army (FSA) battalions are fighting to stop the onslaught against Kobane. The battle has been focused on one hill overlooking Kobane four miles from the city, which sits directly on the Turkish border.

But the US-led air strikes which began on Monday have been ineffective, according to the chief of defence for Kobane, Ismat Sheikh Hassan, speaking to The Independent by phone from his base inside Kobane. “They struck empty buildings. Isis fighters used to be there but they left, so they haven’t helped us. If anything, they are now fighting harder to push forward before there are more strikes,” he said.

Despite fighting Isis on the Kobane front since July, YPG command was not informed of today’s air strikes aimed at “degrading and destroying” the brutal terror group.

An Isis militant fires a heavy machine gun during fighting near the threatened city of Kobane An Isis militant fires a heavy machine gun during fighting near the threatened city of Kobane (AFP)

As world leaders met at the United Nations to discuss President Obama’s “global strategy to degrade and ultimately defeat Isil [Isis]”, the Kurds that have fought them for more than a year, were left out of the loop.

“We only heard they had happened on the public radio - behind Isis lines the villages are empty,” said Mr Hassan. “The people who stayed have been killed and everybody else has left.”

In the past week hundreds of villages have emptied and more than 130,000 people have fled across the border to neighbouring Turkey, as Isis has pounded the surrounding villages with shells and heavy artillery. “If we had enough weapons, we wouldn’t be in this situation. We’ve been under siege for a year. We’re not getting any more weapons or ammunition,” said Mr Hassan.

Kobane has been under siege for a year, attacked by both Isis and al-Qa’eda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra.

Turkish armed forces lined the border, with tanks stationed in newly dug trenches, while armoured personnel carriers and special-forces vehicles were visibly on patrol.

Turkey’s land forces commander inspected troops along the Syrian border, as the Turkish government signalled a policy change in actively joining the international coalition led by the US against the jihadist threat in Iraq and Syria.

On the Mursitpinar border crossing, just metres from Kobane’s urban sprawl, men, women and children queued to return home.

“We have nothing in Turkey,” said Amina, a 30-year-old schoolteacher, tears streaking her cheeks. “We had to sleep on the street, the park under the sky. At least we have our homes there. If we are going to die, we will die in our own homes, in our own town.”

As Isis moves closer to the besieged town on all sides, the Kurdish fighters are determined to defend their land until the very end.

“Don’t worry, guys, we won’t leave Kobane,” Mr Hassan said when asked if the YPG would retreat to Turkey. “I’m ready to be executed by Isis but I’m not ready to leave my town. Whether the world helps us or not, we will defend our city. Kobane will be the cemetery of Isis.”
airstrike-syria.jpg
One of the 3 children who were wounded when a mine exploded yesterday evening as people fleeing the attacks of ISIS in Kobanê went into a minefield while trying to cross into North Kurdistan, has died in hospital.


Mine explosion at border leaves 1 child dead, 2 wounded
ANF - URFA 25.09.2014 11:00:11

One of the 3 children who were wounded when a mine exploded yesterday evening as people fleeing the attacks of ISIS in Kobanê went into a minefield while trying to cross into North Kurdistan, has died in hospital.

Seven-year-old Mazhar Mahmud was one of 3 children wounded when a mine exploded as families trying to cross the border to reach the Pirsus (Suruç) district of Urfa from Kobanê because of ISIS gang attacks strayed into a minefield. The explosion, near the Mürşitpınar border gate, seriously injured Mazhar Mahmud (7), Ahmed Mustafa (14), and Diyar Eli (12).

After being kept waiting in an ambulance at the border for hours, the children were taken to the Suruç hospital for emergency treatment. From there they were taken to the Urfa Mehmet Akif İnan research and training hospital. Despite interventions at the hospital, Mazhar Mahmud died of his injuries.

Meanwhile, it is reported that two people wounded in clashes in Kobanê have also died in the Mehmet Akif İnan hospital in Urfa. 30-year-old Gelle Sido and 24-year-old Agiri Berhat died of wounds they sustained in clashes.


http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/mine-explosion-at-border-leaves-1-child-dead-2-wounded.htm#.VCPhVxUBFEM.twitter
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