TURKEY-SYRIA BORDER – The Kurdish defenders of Kobane, the Syrian border town under siege from Islamic State (ISIS) fighters for more than a month, have yet to use weapons airdropped to them by the U.S. on Monday, according to information obtained by Rudaw.
"Allied air forces are shelling the ISIS main bases from 1 am this morning,” Rudaw’s Sanger Abdurrahman reported from the border.
Clashes on the ground escalated between ISIS and Kobane’s defnders, principally the People’s Protection Units (YPG) linked to the main Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syrian Kurdistan.
"On the three main sides, southern, western, and eastern, the YPG fighters have been repulsing the ISIS attacks since the early morning’' Abdurrahman reported.
The weapons airdropped by the US are understood to be chiefly sniper equipment and anti-tank munitions.
The air drops are controversial, particularly in Turkey, because the PYD and its militia are linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which fought a three-decade war against the Turkish state.
Kerry said the air drop of supplies provided by the Kurdish authorities in Iraq did not amount to a change of US policy.
“We understand fully the fundamentals of [Ankara’s] opposition and ours to any kind of terrorist group, and particularly, obviously, the challenges they face with respect to the PKK,” he told reporters.
Turkey confirmed on Monday it was helping Kurdistan Region Peshmerga cross into the Syrian border town of Kobane to support Syrian Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State.
The announcement by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu marked a dramatic shift in position by Ankara, which had so far refused to come to the aid of Kobane's Kurdish defenders, despite sustained pressure from Washington as well as Kurds in Syria and Turkey.
Meanwhile, according to information obtained by Rudaw, Peshmerga forces will enter Kobane with heavy weapons next week, after obtaining final approval by the Kurdish Parliament.
After a long two-way meeting, Turkish Presidet Recep Tayyip Erdogan accepted Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani's request to give Kurdish forces a passage to enter Kobane through Turkey.
By phone, Barzani called on the speaker of the Kurdish parliament to approve the request for Peshmerga forces being dispatched to Kobane.
According to the same source PYD, which is the main political party in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan) at first refused Peshmerga forces entering Kobane. But Barzani, the Peshmerga minister and Fuad Hussein, chief of staff to the Kurdistan regional presidency, persuaded Syrian political forces to allow the Peshmerga safe passage with heavy weapons.
Barzani will give the final order for the Peshmerga to move into Kobane.
The same sources said that the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga forces, entering Kobane through Turkey, will be only enough in number to carry heavy weapons, because the PYD has called for weapons rather than Peshmerga troops.
Meanwhile, US Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham have backed President Barack Obama’s decision to supply the Kurdish fighters in Kobane with arms and ammunition.
“We support the Administration's decision to resupply Kurdish forces in Kobane with arms, ammunition, and other supplies. This is a good step in a recent series of actions to increase US efforts to prevent ISIS from taking Kobane,” they said in a statement late Monday.
McCain and Graham have been critical of Obama’s strategy to deal with Islamic State and urged the president to work with the Kurds to counter the IS threat in the region as well as deploy US Special Forces.
In the statement, the Republican senators called again for a more comprehensive and effective strategy against the jihadists in Iraq and Syria and identified the weapon delivery for the Kurds a a “tactical adjustment.”
“This tactical adjustment should not be confused for an effective strategy, which is still lacking. As US efforts increase to help secure Kobane, ISIS continues advancing in Anbar province as well as on Baghdad and other strategically significant cities,” the statement said.
The Kurdish city of Kobane has been under siege for over a month by Islamic State. But the Kurdish YPG fighters have been able to hold the advance of the Sunni militants.
The YPG, the armed wing of the PYD, has long been considered an offshoot of the PKK, designated as a terrorist organization by the US, European Union and Turkey.
However, the US State Department said that under US law, PKK and PYD are distinct from one another - a categorization that could pave the way for more military aid for the Syrian Kurdish fighters.
"The PYD is a different group than the PKK legally under the United States law,” Deputy Spokesperson for the Department of State, Marie Harf said during press briefings.
McCain and Graham reiterated their earlier demands from the Obama administration, which includes the deployment of boots on the ground and arming the moderate Syrian rebels to defeat the ISIS.
“Degrading and ultimately destroying ISIS will require additional actions that we have long advocated, such as the deployment of U.S. Special Forces and military advisers on the ground to direct airstrikes and advise our local partners; the expansion of assistance for moderate Syrian forces, and the establishment of safe zones protected by no fly zones in Syria.”
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