Kurds plead for more help as battle rages
MURSITPINAR, TURKEY — In its battle for the Syrian town of Kobani, Islamic State enjoys a key advantage: a supply of weapons, ammunition and fighters shuttling between Syria and Iraq.
The town’s Syrian Kurdish defenders, while backed by airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition, are outnumbered, poorly armed and squeezed against the unwelcoming Turkish border. Reflecting growing desperation despite their success so far in holding out, Syrian Kurdish officials are increasing their appeals to better arm the defenders of the strategic frontier town.
“From the start, we said the coalition’s airstrikes will not be able to save Kobani or to defeat Daesh in the area,” Idriss Nassan, deputy head of Kobani’s foreign relations committee, said using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL.
“We call upon the international community to open a humanitarian safe passage to allow in food, medicine and weapons supplies.”
It’s unclear what friendly countries could do. Weapons for Kurdish fighters would have to cross through Turkey — a request the Ankara government is likely to rebuff.
Islamic State launched its Kobani offensive in mid-September, capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages and a third of the town in lightning advances that sent waves of civilians fleeing over the border into Turkey.
Bolstered by the intensified air campaign targeting Islamic State, Kurdish militiamen were able to regain some of the positions they lost in recent days. The U.S. Central Command said Thursday it had launched 14 airstrikes on Islamic State group targets near Kobani, hitting 19 buildings and two command posts, as well as fighting and sniper positions, and a heavy machine-gun.
“Indications are that airstrikes have continued to slow ISIL advances, but that the security situation on the ground in Kobani remains tenuous,” a U.S. military spokesman said.
Turkey dismissed the airstrikes as a “public relations” campaign that is doing little to defeat Islamic State or resolve the conflict in Syria.
“While we are concerned about the tragedy in Kobani, we believe that fighting this terrorism there has somehow turned into a PR campaign,” said Cemal Hasimi, an adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
“Airstrikes are necessary but if you don’t have a political perspective on the future of Syria, aerial bombardment is not enough and Kobani is not going to be the last town which will be attacked in this way.”