UPDATE: Peshmerga due at Kobane front in early hours
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Peshmerga from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq will arrive in Kobane in the early hours of Wednesday to help defenders of the Syrian border town fight off an Islamic State assault that has lasted more than 40 days, according to informed sources.
Part of the 150-strong Peshmerga artillery force were flying from Erbil to Turkey, from where they will cross to Kobane. Others will travel by road, accompanying trucks, guns, and other heavy weapons with which they hope to help defeat the ISIS siege.
The deployment of the Kurdish soldiers comes after being delayed for two days of negotiations with Turkey, through whose territory they must pass to reach Kobane, which lies just across the Turkish frontier.
Overnight US warplanes carried out more strikes on ISIS positions near the town, a strategy that has helped its defenders hold out after what initially looked its inevitable fall. Nearly all its 200,000 civilian population have long since fled into Turkey.
On the eastern and western sides of Kobane,fierce clashes were reported in the narrow streets of two industrial sectors on Tuesday.
The news that the Kurdish soldiers were on the move came hours after the office of the KRG president, Massoud Barzani, said Erbil authorities “don’t yet have an answer from the Turkish side.”
A two-day hold up in the scheduled deployment followed comments by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, that the arrival of the reinforcements was being blocked by the Syrian-Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), whose YPG militia has been at the forefront of Kobane’s defence.
However, Salih Muslim, co-chair of the PYD, told Turkey's CNN Turk television channel on Monday he did not believe the Peshmerga would try to take over from his fighters defending the town and accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of meddling.
“Is everything going to be ordered by him? The YPG and the Peshmerga command come to an agreement amongst themselves. In the first phase, it is said to be 150-200 [Peshmerga],” Muslim said.
Muslim's comments were the latest in a war of words between the PYD and Ankara, following Turkey's announcement last week it would open a corridor through its territory for Peshmerga to enter Kobane.
The source close to the KRG said the Peshmerga unit was equipped with US weapons and was transporting its own kit and supplies. He added that the Kurdish soldiers were drawn from the First and Second Defence Force.
Ankara on Tuesday sought to play down the suggestion of any political barriers saying the soldiers could cross over “at any moment”. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said their deployment was imminent.
“Right now there are no political problems. There are also no problems concerning facilitating their passage. They could cross over at any moment,” Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by state media Anadolu. It gave no further details.
Cavusoglu also said the PYD had come to an agreement with the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) over the deployment of its troops to battle alongside Kurdish fighters in Kobane. He reiterated that Turkey would also help provide them passage.
Additional reporting by Jonathon Burch in Istanbul
Part of the 150-strong Peshmerga artillery force were flying from Erbil to Turkey, from where they will cross to Kobane. Others will travel by road, accompanying trucks, guns, and other heavy weapons with which they hope to help defeat the ISIS siege.
The deployment of the Kurdish soldiers comes after being delayed for two days of negotiations with Turkey, through whose territory they must pass to reach Kobane, which lies just across the Turkish frontier.
Overnight US warplanes carried out more strikes on ISIS positions near the town, a strategy that has helped its defenders hold out after what initially looked its inevitable fall. Nearly all its 200,000 civilian population have long since fled into Turkey.
On the eastern and western sides of Kobane,fierce clashes were reported in the narrow streets of two industrial sectors on Tuesday.
The news that the Kurdish soldiers were on the move came hours after the office of the KRG president, Massoud Barzani, said Erbil authorities “don’t yet have an answer from the Turkish side.”
A two-day hold up in the scheduled deployment followed comments by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, that the arrival of the reinforcements was being blocked by the Syrian-Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), whose YPG militia has been at the forefront of Kobane’s defence.
However, Salih Muslim, co-chair of the PYD, told Turkey's CNN Turk television channel on Monday he did not believe the Peshmerga would try to take over from his fighters defending the town and accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of meddling.
“Is everything going to be ordered by him? The YPG and the Peshmerga command come to an agreement amongst themselves. In the first phase, it is said to be 150-200 [Peshmerga],” Muslim said.
Muslim's comments were the latest in a war of words between the PYD and Ankara, following Turkey's announcement last week it would open a corridor through its territory for Peshmerga to enter Kobane.
The source close to the KRG said the Peshmerga unit was equipped with US weapons and was transporting its own kit and supplies. He added that the Kurdish soldiers were drawn from the First and Second Defence Force.
Ankara on Tuesday sought to play down the suggestion of any political barriers saying the soldiers could cross over “at any moment”. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said their deployment was imminent.
“Right now there are no political problems. There are also no problems concerning facilitating their passage. They could cross over at any moment,” Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by state media Anadolu. It gave no further details.
Cavusoglu also said the PYD had come to an agreement with the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) over the deployment of its troops to battle alongside Kurdish fighters in Kobane. He reiterated that Turkey would also help provide them passage.
Additional reporting by Jonathon Burch in Istanbul