MURSITPINAR, Oct 8 (Agencies): Intensified air strikes helped Kurdish militia push back Islamic State jihadists fighting for Kobane as pressure mounted Wednesday for more international action to save the key Syrian border town.
Across the frontier in Turkey, the government's lack of action against the jihadists was drawing a furious response, with at least 14 people killed in pro-Kurdish demonstrations in the southeast.
A new strike by the US-led coalition hit near Kobane early Wednesday after a flurry of raids the day before, an AFP reporter on the Turkish border said.
The strike sent a cloud of thick black smoke billowing from the eastern side of the town, where Kurdish militia were reported to have forced IS fighters out of several neighbourhoods in heavy overnight fighting.
The jihadists pierced Kobane's defences this week, sparking fierce street battles that continued on Wednesday with the sounds of heavy gunfire and mortar shells falling on the town.
A Kobane official, Idris Nahsen, said fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) had managed to push IS militants out of key areas after "helpful" air strikes by the US-led coalition.
"The situation has changed since yesterday. YPG forces have pushed back ISIS forces," he told AFP, using another name for the extremist group.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, also said IS fighters had withdrawn overnight from several areas and were no longer inside the western part of Kobane.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman, whose group relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said the withdrawal came after coalition air strikes hit IS positions "causing casualties and damaging at least four of their vehicles."
But he said the jihadists had launched a new assault on Wednesday in the east of the town, also known as Ain al-Arab, following their pull-back.
"There are fierce clashes underway in the east of Ain al-Arab after the Islamic State launched an offensive to retake the areas it lost control of," Abdel Rahman said.
Meanwhile, Turkey's president said the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani was "about to fall" on Tuesday as Islamic State fighters pressed home a three-week assault that has cost a reported 400 lives and forced thousands to flee their homes. The prospect that the town could be captured by Islamic State, who are now within city limits, has increased pressure on Turkey to join an international coalition to fight against the jihadists.
Islamic State wants to take Kobani in order to strengthen its grip on the border area and consolidate the territorial gains it has made in Iraq and Syria in recent months. US-led air strikes have so far failed to prevent its advance on Kobani.
Turkey said it was pressing Washington for more air strikes, although President Tayyip Erdogan said bombing was not enough to defeat Islamic State and he set out Turkey's demands for additional measures before it could intervene.
"The problem of ISIS (Islamic State) ... cannot be solved via air bombardment. Right now ... Kobani is about to fall," he said during a visit to a camp for Syrian refugees.
OTTAWA report adds: Canadian lawmakers voted yesterday to join the international coalition launching air strikes on the Islamic State group in Iraq.
Parliamentarians led by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper carried the vote, 157 to 134, in favor of the six-month mission.
Jihadists pushed back to Kobane as air strikes intensify
FE Team | Published: October 09, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
Share if you like