Kurds flee as US airstrikes continue
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E-mail Shanghai Daily via agencies, September 25, 2014
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Syrian Kurds wait at the Turkish police check point near the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province, on September 20, 2014. Tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds flooded into Turkey on September 20, fleeing an onslaught by the jihadist Islamic State group that prompted an appeal for international intervention. [Xinhua photo] |
Islamic State’s ability to move between Syria and Iraq has been a tactical advantage for the group: fighters sweeping in from Syria helped capture much of northern Iraq in June, and weapons they seized and sent back to Syria helped them in battle there.
An Islamist fighter in Albu Kamal area said there were at least nine strikes yesterday by “crusader forces.”
But even as their outposts elsewhere have been struck, Islamic State fighters have accelerated their campaign to capture Kobani, a Kurdish city on the border with Turkey. Nearly 140,000 Syrian Kurds have fled into Turkey since last week.
Ocalan Iso, deputy leader of the Kurdish forces defending Kobani, said more Islamic State fighters and tanks had arrived in the area since the coalition began airstrikes on the group.
“Kobani is in danger,” he said, repeating calls for the coalition to expand its airstrikes to Islamic State positions near the town.
The Syrian Observatory reported airstrikes overnight near Kobani. But US military, Kurdish and Syrian officials did not report strikes in that area.
Iso said Islamic State fighters had advanced to within 8 kilometers from the southern periphery of Kobani — closer than at any stage in the latest offensive.
“There are more and more Islamic State fighters in the past two days, they have brought all their forces here,” said Ahmed Hassan, a Syrian Kurd who fled to Turkey with his family.
“They have heavy weapons. We are running away from them.”
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