Aircraft from the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates bombed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria positions around the Syrian border town of Kobani late Monday and early Tuesday in a bid to keep it from falling to the extremists.
Turkey, meanwhile, sat out the fight in spite of international calls for it to intervene to prevent the Islamic State from seizing the town. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Monday that Ankara would only send its troops into Syria if the regime of President Bashar Assad is removed.
The U.S. Central Command said Tuesday that airstrikes destroyed or damaged several armored vehicles belonging to the Islamic State around Kobani. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights meanwhile said on its Facebook page that the airstrikes had helped Kurdish fighters holding the town to drive back Islamic State militants.
Davutoglu, in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, said without a focus on Assad, terrorism in Syria would continue to be a threat.
“We are ready to do everything if there is a clear strategy that after [Islamic State], we can be sure that our border will be protected,” he said. “We don’t want the regime anymore on our border pushing people against — towards Turkey. We don’t want other terrorist organizations to be active there.”
The Kurdish fighters in Kobani reportedly include members of the PKK, a militant Turkish group that has fought a guerrilla war with Ankara and is considered a terrorist organization by both Turkey and the United States.
Asked to respond to Davutoglu’s comment on Monday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: “Our position hasn’t changed. Our focus is on [the Islamic State]. We certainly are continuing to support the Syrian opposition, but I don’t have anything new on that regard.”
