AFP
Jihadists from the Islamic State group using heavy weapons have seized a string of villages around Ain al-Arab as they close in on Syria's third largest Kurdish town, a monitor said Thursday.
"IS fighters have seized at least 21 villages around Kobane," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights head Rami Abdel Rahman, using the Kurdish name for Ain al-Arab.
"The IS is using heavy weaponry, its artillery and tanks," he said, adding that thousands of Kurdish fighters defending the town on the Turkish border were being encircled in a "pincer movement".
Kobane is Syria's third largest Kurdish town after Qamishli and Afrin. Its capture would allow the jihadists to control a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.
Speaking to AFP via the Internet, an activist in Kobane said that apart from the villages seized by the jihadists, others have also been abandoned by residents fearful of the IS advance.
"If the situation doesn't change, it is very possible that (the IS) will enter the city," said Jan Ali, using a pseudonym to protect his identity.
"We are seeing the signs of a humanitarian crisis in Kobane," he said, adding that IS has cut off water and electricity supplies to the city.
Ali said Turkish authorities were blocking the only safe way out, into Turkey.
"People from the villages have fled to the city... Some are trying to cross into Turkey but the Turkish authorities are not allowing them," he said.
The Syrian opposition National Coalition, meanwhile, warned of "the danger of a massacre of civilians" in the Kurdish areas.
Abdel Rahman said the latest IS offensive was larger than a July assault that was repelled by the Kurds backed by hundreds of fellow Kurdish fighters who crossed from Turkey.
