Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
A desperate fight
A female Kurdish fighter runs into position Thursday in the embattled Syrian border town of Kobani during fighting between Syrian Kurds and Islamic State militants. A Syrian Kurdish official called on nations to allow weapons for its fighters in Kobani, saying U.S.-led coalition airstrikes were not enough to defeat the militants.
MURSITPINAR, Turkey — A Syrian Kurdish official called on other nations Thursday to allow weapons into the border town of Kobani, saying the city was still in danger from Islamic State militants, despite small advances by Kurdish fighters.
Idriss Nassan, deputy head of Kobani’s foreign-relations committee said airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition were “effective” but not enough to defeat the Sunni extremists. The Islamic State fighters can move in reinforcements and weapons from a network of other villages and towns in the area that they control, something that has hurt the Kurdish fighters.
The Islamic State launched its offensive on Kobani in mid- September, capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages and a third of the town. The extremists’ advances have sent tens of thousands of civilians fleeing across the border into Turkey in one of the worst refugee crises since the Syrian conflict began more than three years ago.
“From the start, we said the coalition’s airstrikes will not be able to save Kobani or to defeat Daesh in the area,” Nassan said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. “We call up- on 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, however, because weapons for Kurdish fighters would have to cross through Turkey.
The Turkish government views the Kurdish fighters with suspicion because of their ties to a Kurdish group in Turkey that opposes the government and has been labeled a terrorist organization. Turkey has prevented young men from crossing into Syria to fight alongside the Kurds there and has shelled Kurdish positions inside Turkey.
Nassan made the comments a day after Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said Kobani remained under threat of falling to the Islamic State despite two weeks of airstrikes that have killed hun- dreds of extremist fighters.
Kirby said there is no mission to send supplies into Kobani that he is aware of.
“We’re doing what we can from the air to try to support them in their effort to defend the city system,” he said.
On Thursday, the U.S. conducted 14 airstrikes — hitting buildings controlled by the group, sniping positions and a heavy machine gun, according to a statement issued by the U.S. military’s central command. The statement said the airstrikes were slowing down the Islamic State fighters, “but that the security situation on the ground in Kobani remains tenuous.”
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll since the Islamic State offensive began has reached more than 660. It said the dead include 20 civilians, 258 Kurdish fighters, 374 jihadist fighters and nine Syrian rebels who are fighting on the Kurds’ side.
The activist group and Nassan reported sporadic clashes Thursday in Kobani as well as sniper fire on the eastern and southeastern edge of the town. Bolstered by the U.S. airstrikes, Kurdish militiamen were able to regain some of the positions they lost over the past few days.
Syrian Kurdish groups met Wednesday in northern Iraq to discuss the siege of Kobani. The meeting was aimed at finding a joint solution to the fight against the Islamic State among traditionally feuding Kurdish parties in Iraq and Syria.
“Kobani is not fighting for itself alone. Kobani is fighting for the world community. This is a battle against terrorism,” Nassan said Thursday.
In neighboring Iraq, where the Islamic State also has overrun vast portions of the country’s west and north, militants unleashed a wave of attacks Thursday.
The attacks mainly targeted Shiite areas in and around Baghdad, the capital, killing at least 50 people and wounding dozens, authorities said.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the day’s deadliest strike. In that attack, two parked car bombs exploded simultaneously in a commercial area in the northern Dolaie neighborhood, killing 14 civilians and wounding 34 others, a police officer said.
Residents angered by the failure of government forces to protect the neighborhood threw stones at police checkpoints and police cars that arrived to respond to the blasts. That prompted police to withdraw from the area.