Kurdish defenders in the Syrian border town of Kobani were getting much-needed reinforcements from another rebel group and their Iraqi brethren on Wednesday, potentially providing the strategic advantage needed to break the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s siege.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on its Facebook page that 50 fighters from the Free Syrian Army had crossed from Turkey to reinforce Kobani’s Kurdish defenders. Kurdish peshmerga fighters from Iraq, armed with machine guns, heavy artillery and rocket launchers, also were expected to cross the border Wednesday, according to news reports.
“Preparations are underway to receive the peshmerga forces on the border crossing, where [Islamic State] militants failed for the fifth time to seize it,” the monitoring group said, citing “reliable sources” as saying that the peshmerga’s heavy weapons “may change the course of battles in Kobani.”
Meanwhile, U.S. and allied fighters struck eight times at Islamic State forces in and around the town, destroying five fighting positions, a small unit six vehicles and a command post, the U.S. Central Command said Wednesday.
Though U.S. officials had initially written Kobani off, the town’s defense has taken on a strategic value as the Islamic State continues to pour resources into capturing it, providing tempting targets for airstrikes. And Turkey, which sees the town’s defenders as terrorists, has overcome its initial reluctance to aid them under international pressure.
The town’s fate also has become a front in the propaganda battle. The Islamic State released a video Monday in which captured British journalist John Cantlie is pressed into service in a bid to debunk claims the terrorists are on the run.
“The battle for Kobani is coming to an end. The mujahideen are just mopping up now, street to street and building to building,” Cantlie says in the video.
