Kurds battle to repel ISIL in assault on Kobani

People watch while smoke rises from Syria's Kobani city on the Turkish-Syrian border, near Sanliurfa on October 3. EPA

BEIRUT // Kurds battled ISIL fighters on Friday for a town along the border with Turkey, as the Turkish prime minister said his country will prevent the fall of Kobani.

The Kurdish town and its surrounding have been under attack since mid-September, with militants capturing dozens of nearby villages. The assault, which has forced some 160,000 Syrians to flee, has left the Kurdish fighters scrambling to repel the militants’ advance into the outskirts of Kobani, also known as Ain Al Arab.

Meanwhile, aircraft from Saudi Arabia and the UAE joined US warplanes in a new wave of bombing raids Friday against ISIL in Syria.

Coalition fighter jets and drones conducted six strikes in Syria on Thursday and Friday, hitting militant tanks, oil refineries and a training camp, the US military said.

US aircraft also conducted three air raids in Iraq over the past 24 hours, including two north-east of Fallujah, US Central Command said.

Iraqi officials said that an Iraqi military attack helicopter was shot down by ISIL militants in the country’s north. The Mi-35 helicopter was brought down on Friday by a rocket launcher between the towns of Beiji and Al Senniyah in northern Iraq. The helicopter’s pilot and co-pilot were killed.

Also on Friday, Canada announced plans to launch airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq following a US request, Canada’s prime minister said.

The combat mission must be voted on in parliament but prime minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has the majority of seats so it is expected to pass.

In Syria, one coalition air strike south of Al Hasakah destroyed an ISIL garrison, another strike south-east of Deir Ezzor destroyed two tanks, two raids north of Raqqa struck two small-scale oil refineries and a “training camp,” and a bombing run north-east of Aleppo hit an ISIL building, Centcom said.

One strike targeting an ISIL artillery piece west of the militant bastion of Raqqa “was not successful,” Centcom said.

In Iraq, one US air raid north of Sinjar destroyed two ISIL armed vehicles, and two strikes north-east of Fallujah struck ISIL fighters.

US and coalition aircraft have flown more than 4,000 sorties in an air campaign that began in Iraq on August 8 and was extended to Syria on September 23. The sorties include surveillance flights, refuelling runs and bombing raids.

On Friday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors Syria’s civil war, reported intense fighting on Friday to the east and south-east of Kobani. The Observatory said seven ISIL fighters were killed in a village near Kobani.

Nasser Haj Mansour, a defence official in Syria’s Kurdish region, said the Kurdish militiamen repelled the latest attack by ISIL east of Kobani.

Ismet Sheikh Hassan, the Kurdish defence minister of Kobani region, said ISIL fighters were trying to advance from the east, west and south-east of Kobani. He said militants fired rockets on the town and called on the US-led coalition “to hit the tanks instead of bases.”

The latest round of fighting over Kobani came after Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu said late on Thursday that his government does not want Kobani to be captured.

Asked what will happen if Kobani falls, Mr Davutoglu said: “We would not want Kobani to fall. We have opened our arms to our brothers who have come from Kobani. We would do whatever is necessary, our utmost to prevent Kobani’s fall.”

His comments came after Turkey’s parliament gave the government new powers Thursday to launch military incursions into Syria and Iraq, and to allow foreign forces to use its territory for possible operations against ISIL.

On Friday, Syria’s foreign ministry warned Turkey that deploying troops inside its borders will be seen as an “aggression,” calling on the international community to “put limits to the adventures” of the Turkish leadership.

When asked about Mr Davutoglu’s statement, Nawaf Khalil, a spokesman for Syria’s leading Kurdish Democratic Union Party, said: “How does he want to prevent the fall of Kobani and until now Turkey has done nothing.”

Mr Khalil added that Kobani is now almost empty of civilians and that the situation around the town “is very dangerous.” He said Kurdish fighters in the town “will fight until the last gunman and last gunwoman.”

* Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse