Iraqi forces arrive in Turkey to join battle for Kobane
For Kurds fighting in Kobane, a long-awaited boost as reinforcements arrive
(about 4 hours later)
Reinforcements moved into the embattled Syrian border town of Kobane on Wednesday as a small force of Syrian rebels joined the fight against the Islamic State and a separate group of Kurdish militiamen prepared to follow.
ISTANBUL — A small group of Free Syrian Army fighters moved across the Turkish border Wednesday into the embattled Syrian town of Kobane to reinforce a Kurdish militia struggling against an Islamic State offensive, ahead of an expected convoy of Kurdish Iraqi pesh merga forces.
The two-track movement of weapons and fighters marked a long-awaited boost for Kobane’s Syrian Kurdish defenders, who have been aided by intensified U.S. airstrikes yet remain outgunned by Islamic State units in street by street clashes.
The two-track movement of weapons and fighters marked a long-awaited boost for Kobane’s Syrian Kurdish defenders, who remain outgunned by Islamic State militants despite being aided by intensified U.S. airstrikes.
But it also appears to highlight the interests of neighboring Turkey in the showdown for the town.
It also highlights a complicated struggle for influence over the Kurdish population of northeastern Syria that has long plagued efforts to unite against the threat posed by the extremists.
Turkey wants Syrian rebels — rather than Kurdish forces alone — to have control of Kobane if the Islamic State advance is thwarted. A force of about 50 Syrian rebels was allowed to cross from Turkey to reach Kobane ahead of a larger contingent of Kurdish fighters, which came by road convoy and plane from northern Iraq.
The Kurds in Kobane had initially balked at accepting reinforcements from rival Iraqi Kurds but are now on board, said Idris Naasan, a spokesman for the self-styled Kurdish government in Kobane.
NATO-member Turkey is wary about empowering further bonds among Kurds — whose ethnic homeland stretches across four nations — as part of the wider fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Turkey has faced an insurgency by Turkish Kurds seeking greater rights since the 1980s.
“This will give legality to the fighters in Kobane, and also the pesh merga will bring us heavy weapons,” said Naasan, speaking from the nearby Turkish border town of Suruc.
At the same time, Turkey is a main backer of rebel factions that have tried to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since 2011.
Turkey would prefer that Syrian rebels and Iraqi Kurds control Kobane in the event that the Islamic State advance is thwarted. The force of 52 Syrian rebels was allowed to cross from Turkey ahead of a larger contingent of about 150 Kurdish fighters dispatched by road and plane from northern Iraq, said Barzan Iso, a Kurdish activist speaking from the Turkish side of the border.
The multi-layered political calculations by Turkey are just part of the regional tensions and rivalries complicating the U.S.-led alliance confronting the Islamic State.
Cheering Turkish Kurds lined the route taken by the Iraqi ground convoy as it crossed into Turkey, but they also threw stones at Turkish police. The scenes were a reminder of the symbolic importance of the reinforcement for the region’s Kurds, who have long aspired to have their own independent nation.
While various fronts are being waged — the Islamic State claimed it executed at least 46 opponents in Iraq on Wednesday — the struggle for Kobane has remained at the forefront.
NATO member Turkey is wary about encouraging further collaboration among the region’s Kurds — whose ethnic homeland stretches across four nations — as part of the wider fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Turkey has faced an insurgency by its Kurdish population since the 1980s, and the group battling the Islamic State in Kobane is affiliated with the Kurdish Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is behind the unrest in Turkey.
Gaining control of the town could provide a significant propaganda platform for the Islamic State as the battles unfold in sight of international media and observers just over the border in Turkey.
Turkey is also a main backer of rebel factions that have been trying to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since 2011, and the Iraqi pesh merga fighters are affiliated with a Kurdish faction that supports the revolt and is at odds with the Kurds fighting in Kobane. Iraq’s Kurds and the United States back the effort to unite the Kurdish factions under one umbrella.
On Monday, the Islamic State issued a video with one of its Western hostages, British journalist John Cantlie, used as a spokesman to claim the militants have control of large areas of Kobane after intense “urban warfare.”
The multi-layered political calculations are among the regional tensions and rivalries complicating the U.S.-led alliance against the Islamic State.
Under pressure from Western allies, Turkey last week agreed to let the fighters from Iraq travel across Turkey to reach Kobane. The limited number of fresh forces are unlikely to tip the scales, and it remains unclear whether the Syrian rebels and Kurdish forces with coordinate or fight separately. But the twin deployments could open the way for more reinforcements.
While the militant group is being targeted on more crucial fronts — including battles close to Baghdad — the struggle for Kobane has become an important symbol of the wider war, for the United States as well as the Islamic State.
The first to cross Wednesday was the unit from the Free Syrian Army, an umbrella group of various Western-leaning factions in Syria’s civil war. Idriss Nassan, a Kurdish official from Kobane, told the Associated Press that the fighters traveled by car via Turkey’s Mursitpinar border crossing, but had no further details.
The remote farming town lacks strategic significance, but gaining control of Kobane could provide a vital propaganda platform for the extremist group, which would be able to demonstrate that it can stand up to a concerted U.S. air campaign. The United States initially ignored the jihadist advance on Kobane, handing the Islamic State a key psychological boost, until it became clear that the town would fall without significant outside help.
In the wings were 150 Iraqi Kurdish militiamen, known as pesh merga, who have assembled in Turkey.
Intensified U.S.-led airstrikes have helped the Kurds hold on to the town, but a stalemate appears to have settled over the battlefield after the United States recently airdropped weapons to the Kurds. The U.S. Central Command said it carried out eight strikes between Tuesday and Wednesday, targeting Islamic State positions, vehicles, and a “command and control node.”
Some arrived by plane under tight security, the Reuters news agency reported. Others came by a road convoy that left northern Iraq on Tuesday amid cheers from backers waving Kurdish flags.
The limited infusion of fresh forces is unlikely to tip the scales against the Islamic State, and it remains unclear whether the Syrian rebels and the Kurdish fighters will coordinate or fight separately.
The Kurds are expected to bring anti-tank and anti-armor weapons into Kobane later Wednesday, a Syrian Kurdish official told the Reuters news agency.
The first to cross into Kobane on Wednesday was the unit from the Free Syrian Army, an umbrella group that comprises Western-leaning factions engaged in Syria’s civil war. Several hundred FSA fighters have already been fighting alongside the Kurds in Kobane.
Saleh Moslem, co-chair of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party, said the Islamic State has been able to make gains with its tanks and other armored vehicles apparently looted from armories and bases.
The Iraqi Kurdish fighters reached Turkey on Wednesday. Some arrived by plane under tight security, landing in the southeastern town of Sanliurfa. Others came by road in a convoy that left northern Iraq on Tuesday.
“So now, this will give support,” he said.
Elsewhere in Syria, Islamic State militants killed at least 30 government and allied fighters in an offensive against Assad forces that targeted the al-Shaar gas field in the far east of Homs province, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The fighting marked a rare confrontation between the Islamic State and forces loyal to Assad, and it suggests that the militants are determined to gain control of a bigger slice of the region’s energy infrastructure.
In other fighting, Islamic State militants had killed at least 30 Syrian government and allied fighters in an assault on a Syrian gas field, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Government forces last month recaptured the Sha’ar field, just east of the embattled central city of Homs.
Daniela Deane in London contributed to this report.
In Kobane, meanwhile, intensified U.S.-led airstrikes so far failed to break the siege, which has sent more than 200,000 refugees fleeing to Turkey.
At least eight American air attacks were carried out in the Kobane area since Tuesday, the U.S. Central Command said, targeting Islamic State positions, vehicles and a “command and control node.”
Turkey has military units deployed on its border with Syria but has refused to launch a solo ground offensive into Kobane. Turkey also opposes stronger ties between the Syrian Kurds and Turkey’s Kurds, who have waged a guerrilla campaign against the Turkish government for three decades.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the BBC on Tuesday that sending the pesh merga and other forces was “the only way to help Kobane, since other countries don’t want to use ground troops.”
But Davutoglu made it clear that he wants Syrian rebels to have a voice in Kobane if the Islamic State if driven back. He insisted an “integrated strategy” is needed — a reference to Turkish demands that the anti-Assad forces must be strengthened as part of the overall fight in Syria.
In Iraq, the Islamic State claimed it publicly executed 46 tribesmen in the western city of Hit, which was seized by the militants earlier this month. Residents confirmed the men — mostly members of the Albu Nimr tribe — had been killed in a city square.
The tribe had been holding off Islamic State advances in and around Hit for months.
The Islamic State began arresting men from the Albu Nimr shortly after the militants took control of the city, said a 32-year-old resident who declined to be named for security reasons.
“Then they gathered them in al-Bakir square at 11 a.m. today, hands bound, and shot them all,” said the resident. He claimed to have twice counted the men lined up and put the number killed at 47.
Deane reported from London. Mustafa Salim in Baghdad contributed to this report.
