Kobani could become another Srebrenica: UN envoy

ISIL fighters have overrun the headquarters of the Kurdish forces in Kobani, according to reports.

Heavy smoke from a fire caused by a strike rises in Kobani, Syria as fighting intensified between Syrian Kurds and ISIL, as seen from Mursitpinar on the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border on October 10. Lefteris Pitarakis / AP PhotoShow less

GENEVA // Kurdish residents in Kobani “will be most likely massacred” by advancing ISIL militants, a UN envoy warned on Friday, urging Turkey to stop blocking Kurds from crossing into Syria to defend the besieged town.

The plea to Ankara by Staffan de Mistura, a Swedish-Italian diplomat appointed as UN envoy on Syria in July, was a highly unusual one. Normally, the United Nations strives to be neutral in conflicts.

But Mr de Mistura said he was speaking out because of the imminent danger confronting Kobane.

He drew parallels to the 1995 Bosnian war massacre of 300 men and boys in Srebrenica when UN peacekeepers failed to intervene, insisting the world never again could allow something like that to happen.

Reports say the ISIL fighters have overrun the headquarters of the Kurdish forces in Kobani after a three-week offensive.

Showing a satellite image to reporters in Geneva, Mr de Mistura said Kobani, which sits just a few kilometres from the Turkish border, was “literally surrounded” except for one narrow entry and exit point.

There were up to 700 mainly elderly civilians still inside the city centre and another 10,000-13,000 gathered nearby, all of whom were at risk, he said.

“If this falls the 700, plus perhaps if they move a little bit further, the 12,000 people ... will be most likely massacred,” he warned.

“We would like to appeal to the Turkish authorities in order to allow the flow of volunteers at least, and their equipment to be able to enter the city to contribute to a self-defence operation,” Mr de Mistura said.

He said the volunteers should be allowed to go “with sufficient equipment to be able to fight and defend Kobani”, but refused to say whether he thought Turkey should provide weapons.

Mr de Mistura called on Turkey, “if they can, to support the deterrent actions of the coalition through whatever means from their own territory”.

He said he understood Ankara’s preconditions, but stressed that reaching international agreement on them “requires time, and Kobani, in our own opinion does not have enough time”.

At least 31 people have been killed and 360 others injured in a four day “spiral of violence” in Turkey led by pro-Kurdish protesters demonstrating against the government’s inaction, the interior minister said on Friday.

Interior minister Efkan Ala pledged that the government would press on with efforts despite the violence to make peace with Kurdish rebels who have a waged a 30-year insurgency for self-rule in the east of Turkey.

Since the ISIL assault on Kobane began in mid-September, nearly 500 people have been killed in and around the town and 300,000 have fled the region.

Kobani, also known as Ain Al Arab, would be a major prize for the ISIL group, giving it unbroken control of a 400-kilometre stretch of the border, Mr de Mistura said.

“What would be next? Other villages, Aleppo?” he asked.

He warned that if the militant were allowed to continue their murderous rampage “all of us, including Turkey, will be regretting deeply that we have missed an opportunity of stopping” them.

The militants who have torn across large parts of Iraq and Syria have sent shock waves through the international community as they have committed highly publicised brutal murders, including beheadings of several Western hostages.

Mr de Mistura, who is the third UN envoy appointed to try to help pave the way for a political solution to Syria’s three-and-a-half-year bloody civil war, said the horrific rise of ISIL could actually help Damascus and other opposition groups to find some common ground, for instance on local ceasefires.

He stressed that there were no immediate plans for a new international peace conference for Syria, where more than 191,000 people have died and millions have fled their homes, but said opposition to the IS group was creating “a window we should not be missing”.

Mr de Mistura said he and the UN were not yet in talks with the ISIL group, but stressed that in his line of work he had to be prepared “to talk to anyone”.

Coalition aircraft on Friday carried out two fresh air strikes on ISIL fighters in Kobani. The air strikes left a cloud of white smoke rising above Kobane as the militants sought to take the town from Kurdish fighters.

In Iraq, ISIL executed nine people on Friday in two northern Iraqi towns on suspicion of ties to anti-militant Sunni grassroots organisations.

In the town of Az Zab, 90 kilometres west of the oil hub of Kirkuk, six people were executed in public.

Witnesses said the six were accused of being involved in efforts to organise Sunni resistance to ISIL in the Hawija region.

They were executed on a marketplace.

* Agence France-Presse