Thousands Flee IS Onslaught in Kobane, Peshmerga Ministry Vows to Help

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdistan Region's ministry of Peshmerga condemned ongoing attacks by the Islamic State (IS) on the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobane on Friday and vowed to “do all it can to halt the onslaught.”

“The attack by the IS on our brothers in Kobane is another major threat to the people of Kurdistan and it’s the duty of all of us to support them and cooperate with them by all means necessary and with whatever is in our capacity,” said the Peshmerga ministry in a statement.

The statement said despite being locked in daily battles with IS militants in the Kurdistan Region, Peshmerga forces are prepared to assist the people of Kobane.

“Despite the big responsibility to protect South Kurdistan (Kurdistan Region), we as the ministry of Peshmerga are ready to do whatever is possible,”

“And we ask the allied countries to offer assistance to the Kurds of Rojava because the same enemy is attacking them,” read the statement.

Rudaw correspondent on the Turkish border said that thousands of Kobane residents have fled the city and nearby villages fallen to the Islamists in the past two days.

According to media reports, 10,000 refugees have crossed the border into Turkey.

“We ask the UN, US and Western countries to rescue us,” an old man who fled with his family told Rudaw. “We are being killed because we are Kurds.”

According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, IS militants have captured 60 villages near Kobane and that the fate of hundreds of Kurdish civilians is unknown.

The Peoples Protection Units (YPG) are trying to hold back a major assault by IS militants on Kobane.

Reports from the scene say that the IS is using heavy artillery and tanks it has seized from Syrian and Iraqi armies against the Kurdish population.

“We have not had food and water for the last four days,” said a Kurdish woman, holding her baby on the way to the Turkish border. “We are been attacked by rockets, no one is helping us.”

Salih Muslim, the leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) said on Friday that a humanitarian crisis similar to Mount Shingal might occur if Kobane is lost.

“Our people were slaughtered in Shingal and our women and girls were sold,” Muslim told Sterk TV. “Honor is everything. We have been wounded. We still have an opportunity to prevent a repetition in Kobane.”

The PYD leader called on local tribes and the international community to assist the Kurds in Rojava.

In a statement the YPG claimed to have killed 86 Islamist fighters in Kobane.

Pro-PKK twitter accounts reported that over 300 Kurdish men from Turkey have crossed the border to help the YPG forces against the IS.