ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—The Turkish government has agreed to give Kurdistan Region Peshmerga forces passage to the besieged Kurdish town of Kobane, a well-placed source told Rudaw today. The official source said that Turkey has responded positively to a request from Kurdish President Massoud Barzani to allow Peshmerga forces pass through Turkish territory to relieve Peoples Protection Units (YPG) fighters in their battle against the Islamic State (IS). According to the source who didn't want to be named, Barzani and Peshmerga Minister Mustafa Sayid Qader have coordinated the plan with Salih Muslim, leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and his YPG commanders. Muslim met with Barzani in Duhok last week where the two discussed the fighting in Kobane between the YPG and IS militants who have besieged the town for more than a month. On Sunday evening the US military said that the air force had made multiple airdrops of weapons and medical supplies to the Kurdish fighters in Kobane. In a statement, the US central command said the weapons and supplies were provided by the Kurdish authorities in Iraq. An official source in Erbil confirmed the US report to Rudaw, saying, “The weapons, ammunition and medical supplies were from the Kurdistan Region and we asked the US to deliver them to the fighters in Kobane.” “It is our support and our national duty,” he said. “In the future our will support will increase in coordination with the US.”
