Kobane’s Kurdish defenders have been eagerly waiting for the peshmerga since Turkey last week said it would allow them to traverse its territory to enter the town
Heavily armed Kurdish peshmerga fighters were on their way to joining militias defending the Syrian border town of Kobane from the Islamic State group after setting off from Iraq yesterday.
Military trucks loaded with weapons were seen departing from the base northeast of the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital Arbil bound for the besieged town on the Turkish frontier.
More than three dozen vehicles carrying 80 fighters, machineguns and artillery were to travel overland to Kobane, crossing into Turkey yesterday, a Kurdish officer said.
The convoy included two towed artillery pieces and a number of covered trucks, some of them carrying rocket launchers.
Another 72 peshmerga fighters were to fly to Turkey early today, the officer said.
Thousands of euphoric Kurds were ready to welcome the peshmerga fighters along the road leading into Turkey from the Habur border crossing with Iraq, an AFP photographer said.
Kobane’s Kurdish defenders have been eagerly waiting for the peshmerga since Turkey last week said it would allow them to traverse its territory to enter the town.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said there would no problem for the peshmerga to cross into Kobane, dismissing reports of delays imposed by Ankara.
“There is now no political problem. There is no problem in the way of them crossing. They can cross at any moment,” Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by the official Anatolia news agency.
Kurdish militia have been holding out against an IS offensive for weeks in Kobane, and the town has become an important symbol in the international battle against IS.
The fighting continued yesterday, with black smoke rising over the town as the militants set alight tyres in a bid to prevent air strikes.
The US-led coalition waging an air campaign against IS has pounded militant positions in Kobane in recent days in a bid to prevent the town’s fall.
The US military said four more raids had hit IS near Kobane on Monday and yesterday, along with nine raids on the group in Iraq.
The extremists seized large parts of Syria and Iraq this summer, declaring an Islamic “caliphate” and committing widespread atrocities.
The group’s growing power and influence has raised global concerns but Washington and its allies have so far refused to commit to deploying ground forces against the militants.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called yesterday for an “integrated strategy” in the fight against IS, and repeated calls to support the anti-Damascus Free Syrian Army.
Ankara has urged the global community to combine the fight against IS with wider support for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Davutoglu said he wanted the FSA to control Kobane if the militants are defeated, not the forces of separatist Kurds or Assad.
The United States should “equip and train the Free Syrian Army so that if ISIS leaves, the regime should not come”, he said, using another name for IS.
“If ISIS leaves the PKK terrorists should not come, if ISIS is eliminated, the brutal massacres should not continue,” he added.
Turkey is fearful Kobane could be taken over by Kurds allied to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has waged a three-decade insurgency for self-rule and is regarded as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and most of Europe.