U.S. airstrikes hit ISIL near Kobani, Kurds say ISIL pushed back

U.S. airstrikes hit ISIL near Kobani, Kurds say ISIL pushed back

The strikes near Kobani appear to have pushed back the militant group, which had appeared set to seize the Syrian town bordering Turkey after a three-week assault

Six airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition targeting the ISIL group have struck the militants near the Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobani on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the U.S. military.

The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement on Wednesday said the airstrikes destroyed an armored personnel carrier, armed vehicles and artillery piece belonging to the militant group.

The airstrikes were part of nine overall strikes in Syria over the last two days conducted with partner United Arab Emirates, using bomber, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft, it said. “All aircraft exited the strike areas safely,” it added.

The strikes near Kobani appear to have pushed back the militant group, which had appeared set to seize the Syrian town bordering Turkey after a three-week assault. Airstrikes in the area redoubled after the ISIL hoisted its black flag on the eastern edge of Kobani on Monday.

Two other strikes targeting ISIL near Raqqa, ISIL’s de facto capital in Syria, hit a training camp for the militants and the group’s fighters there, according to CENTCOM. Another strike near Deir al-Zor destroyed a tank, it said.

The United States, Britain and the Netherlands also conducted five strikes against ISIL in Iraq on Tuesday and Wednesday using fighter and remotely piloted aircraft, the statement said.

The town has drawn international attention since the ISIL’ advance drove 180,000 of the area’s mostly Kurdish inhabitants to flee into adjoining Turkey.

Intense gunfire and loud explosions could be heard on Wednesday morning from across the Turkish border, and huge plumes of grey smoke and dust rose above the town, where the United Nations says only a few hundred inhabitants remain.

“They are now outside the entrances of the city of Kobani. The shelling and bombardment was very effective and as a result of it, IS have been pushed from many positions,” Idris Nassan, deputy foreign minister of the Kurdish-run Kobani district, told Reuters by phone.

“This is their biggest retreat since their entry into the city and we can consider this as the beginning of the countdown of their retreat from the area.”

The Turkish parliament voted last week to authorise cross-border intervention but President Tayyip Erdogan and his government have so far held back.

PROTESTS

At least 18 people died, Turkish media reported, and dozens more were injured on Tuesday as sympathisers of Turkey’s outlawed Kurdish PKK militant group clashed with police in the commercial hub Istanbul, capital Ankara and towns and cities across the predominantly Kurdish southeast.

Authorities imposed curfews in five southeastern provinces and sent troops and tanks onto the streets of Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish city in the region, to try to quell the unrest.

An unnamed senior U.S. official told the New York Times on Tuesday that there was “growing angst about Turkey dragging its feet to act to prevent a massacre less than a mile from its border”.

“This isn’t how a NATO ally acts while hell is unfolding a stone’s throw from their border,” the official said.

At the same time, official diplomacy intensified. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had spoken with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday night and Tuesday morning, and said Turkey was “determining what larger role they will play”.

Retired U.S. General John Allen, charged with building a coalition against ISIL after it seized about a third of neighbouring Iraq, was due in Turkey this week.

Erdogan says Turkey will join the military coalition against ISIL only if it also confronts Assad, arguing that the Syrian leader would otherwise take advantage of strikes against his foes.

Erdogan wants the alliance to enforce a “no fly zone” to prevent Assad’s air force flying over Syrian territory near the Turkish border, and create a safe area for an estimated 1.2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey to return.

Washington, which has so far managed to bomb ISIL positions in Syria without Assad raising objections, has not agreed to expand the mission to confront the Syrian leader.

Ilnur Cevik, a columnist in the pro-government Daily Sabah, said on Tuesday that Turkey would not allow weapons to reach fighters from YPG, the Kurdish armed group defending Kobani, or send troops into Syria unless it is threatened more directly.

YPG has strong links to the PKK, still viewed by Ankara as terrorists, despite the fledgling peace process.

“The government knows it cannot explain body bags coming from Syria to its Turkish majority with parliamentary elections only eight months away,” he wrote.

“The only way Turkey will send its forces to fight (ISIL) is if Turkish territorial integrity is threatened.”

U.S. airstrikes hit ISIL near Kobani, Kurds say ISIL pushed back