Iraqi Kurds join Kobani fight
BEIRUT: Iraqi Kurdish fighters have joined the fight against Islamic State militants in Kobani, hoping their support for fellow Kurds backed by US-led air strikes will keep the ultra-hardline group from seizing the town.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the civil war, said heavy clashes erupted in Kobani and that both sides had suffered casualties, while the US military said it had launched more air raids on Islamic State over the weekend.
Idriss Nassan, deputy minister for foreign affairs in Kobani district, said Iraqi Kurds using long-range artillery had joined the battle on Saturday night against Islamic State.
“The peshmerga joined the battle late yesterday and it made a big difference with their artillery. It is proper artillery,” he said. “We didn’t have artillery we were using mortars and other locally made weapons. So this is a good thing.”
The arrival of the 150 peshmerga or “those who confront death” marks the first time Turkey has allowed troops from outside Syria to reinforce Syrian Kurds, who have been defending Kobani for more than 40 days. SANAA: The UN special adviser on Yemen praised on Sunday the agreement of all Yemeni parties and political groups on the formation of a technocrat Cabinet by Khaled Bahah, the nominated prime minister.
Jamal Benomar, in a statement, said that Saturday night’s compromise is an important step toward implementing the agreement of peace and national partnership and consolidating the country’s stability.
The Congress Party of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and other groups had insisted earlier on the formation of a Cabinet that included all political factions, but said after Saturday’s meeting that the new agreement was reached because of the critical situation in the country.
Bahah was appointed prime minister last month, backed by the Islamic bloc and Shiite rebels who control the capital Sanaa and other towns.
Bahah is set to become Yemen’s first new prime minister in two years, after Mohammed Salem Bassindwa was forced out in September. Bassindwa was criticized for the country’s deteriorating security situation and as too close to the Islah party, which is one of Yemen’s traditional power bases.
Meanwhile, suspected Al-Qaeda militants killed 13 Yemeni troops and captured 15 others in an attack in the Red Sea port city of Hudeida, security and tribal sources said Sunday.
The attack targeted security headquarters in Hudeida, which Shiite Houthi rebels seized in mid-October.
Dozens of Al-Qaeda suspects took part in the attack on the security forces headquarters in Jabal Ras, in Hudeida, “killings 13 soldiers, wounding 10, and capturing 15 others,” a security official said.
The assailants seized the building but three of the militants were also killed, the official said.
Army reinforcements were sent to Jabal Ras and negotiations launched with the assailants to withdraw from the building, a tribal dignitary said.
“Tribal mediation is underway to secure the withdrawal of Al-Qaeda militants and the release of the captured soldiers,” the source told AFP.