US-led air strikes intensify

American-led forces have sharply intensified air strikes in the past two days against Islamic State fighters threatening Kurds on Syria's Turkish border after the jihadists' advance began to destabilize Turkey. The coalition had conducted 21 attacks on the militants near the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani over Monday and Tuesday and appeared to have slowed Islamic State advances there, the U.S. military said, but cautioned the situation remained fluid. US President Barack Obama voiced deep concern on Tuesday about the situation in Kobani as well as in Iraq's Anbar province, which US troops fought to secure during the Iraq war and is now at risk of being seized by Islamic State militants. ‘Coalition air strikes will continue in both of these areas,’ Obama told military leaders from coalition partners including Turkey, Arab states and Western allies during a meeting outside Washington, according to Reuters.