Iraqi Peshmerga fighters enter Syria to fight Isis in Kobani

 Written by : Mohamed Abdel Fattah

Oct 31, 2014

Dozens of Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters have been crossed into the embattled Syrian border town of Kobane from Turkey on Thursday, to help push back Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants .who have defied U.S. air strikes and threatened to massacre its Kurdish defenders.

The Iraqi peshmerga delegation crossed back into Turkey at nightfall after discussing with Syrian Kurds details of the expected deployment of a force

According to the British-based monitoring group, a convoy carrying Peshmerga fighters arrived near the Turkish town of Suruc on Wednesday night. They, in turn, made contact with other Kurdish fighters who had flown in earlier that day.

“The force is equipped with heavy guns including mortars, canons, rocket launchers, etc.,” the Guardian cites Safeen Dizayee, spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdistan regional government, as saying on Thursday.

The Kurdish troops have set up a temporary camp in a farming depot just outside of town. Turkish security forces have been deployed to stop local people approaching the depot.

Syria has condemned Turkey's decision to allow Iraqi fighters to transit through, describing it as a "blatant violation" of its sovereignty, according to state TV.

"The Syrian regime has no legitimacy. Such statements from a regime that has lost its legitimacy are astonishing," a senior Turkish government official said.

Kobane, near the Turkish border, has become a crucial battleground in the war against ISIL, which is fighting to extend areas under its control in Iraq and Syria, where it has declared an Islamic '"caliphate" that has not been widely recognised.

US fighters and bombers have carried out 10 air strikes on Kobane since Wednesday, US Central Command said.

Another two air strikes by US forces damaged an IS headquarters building near Deir ez-Zor and a security building near Raqqa

Syrian Kurdish fighters, known as the People's Protection Units or YPG, have been holding out for weeks against ISIL's offensive, despite dozens of coalition air strikes against the group's positions.

A convoy of trucks carrying troops equipped with heavy artillery, rocket launchers and machineguns crossed the Iraqi-Turkish border early on Wednesday to aid the YPG fighting ISIL.

The deployment of the Iraqi peshmerga fighters in Kobane may, therefore, herald a breakthrough in the long-running rift between the rival Syrian factions and open the door to a more unified Kurdish position on the Syrian conflict that sits easier with the Turkish government.

sources

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/30/us-mideast-crisis-idUSKBN0IJ18F20141030

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/10/syrian-rebels-kobane-20141029121812288400.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iraqi-kurds-join-fight-to-break-islamic-state-siege-on-syrian-town/2014/10/30/8d846f30-6026-11e4-91f7-5d89b5e8c251_story.html

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