Kurds say U.S.-led airstrikes halting Islamic State advance on Kobani

[bemildred]

Source: LA Times

Each day, Mohammed Jemmo ventures to a barren, wind-swept hilltop overlooking his embattled hometown, where two of his sons and a daughter are fighting with the Kurdish militia resisting an offensive by Islamist extremists.

"I thought that if they must be martyred, then that would be God's will," Jemmo said as he peered southward from Turkish territory toward the Syrian city of Kobani, plumes of smoke rising skyward and the rumble of an unseen fighter jet cutting through the thick overcast. "But now I'm more confident that they will survive. It seems this may be nearing an end."

Less than two weeks ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that Kobani "was about to fall" to Islamist State. Images beamed worldwide from satellite trucks on the Turkish side showed the militants' signature black banner rising from buildings and atop Tel Shair, a hill overlooking the city.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-syria-kobani-20141019-story.html#page=1

[bemildred]

1. Islamic State takes heavy losses in battle for Syria's Kobane

MURSITPINAR (Turkey): The Islamic State group was taking heavy losses in the Syrian battleground of Kobane on Sunday as Iraqi forces fought the jihadists buoyed by US backing for top government security appointments.

US secretary of state John Kerry said the appointment of defence and interior ministers after weeks of delay was a "very positive step forward" in the fightback against IS in Iraq, which Washington has made its priority.

US-led warplanes kept up their strikes on the jihadists around Kobane on Syria's northern border with Turkey, helping the town's Kurdish defenders to repulse a new attempt to cut their supply lines.

The Kurdish fighters, who have been under IS assault for more than a month, weathered fierce street fighting and at least two jihadist suicide bombings but the front line remained unchanged on Sunday, a Kurdish official said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Islamic-State-takes-heavy-losses-in-battle-for-Syrias-Kobane/articleshow/44879371.cms

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. That's a confusing opening paragraph.

It makes it sound like Iraqi forces are fighting in Kobani. Not a well-constructed opener.

[bemildred]

7. Too many ideas crammed into one sentence.

I've been known to do that sort of thing myself.

[bemildred]

2. Fierce fighting rages in Syria's Kobane

The Syrian border town of Kobane has been hit by the fiercest fighting in days as Kurdish forces repelled advancing fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a group monitoring the violence has said.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 48 mortars had been fired at Kurdish areas in the past two days with two car bombs hitting Kurdish positions on Saturday evening leading to casualties.

"We had the most intense clashes of days, perhaps a week last night. [ISIL] attacked from three different sides including the municipality building side and the market place," Abdulrahman Gok, a local journalist, told the Reuters news agency.

The Observatory also said 70 ISIL fighters had been killed in the past two days, according to sources at the hospital in the nearby town of Tel Abyab, where bodies are taken.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/10/fierce-fighting-rages-syria-kobane-20141019122812238305.html

[Iliyah]

3. Per our lovely corporate media

all is lost unless put troops on the ground.

[samsingh]

4. good

[flamingdem]

6. An Isis loss will wreck their momentum

And word of over a thousand killed will slow down recruiting, for now.

[bemildred]

8. Yep.

Combat creates clarity. The heroic resistance of the PKK will be remembered too.

[bemildred]

9. Australian minister says special forces will go to Iraq

Australia has reached an agreement with Iraq for its special forces to support Iraqi forces in their fight against Islamic State, Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Sunday.

"We have reached an agreement for a legal framework and now it will be a matter for our military when our special forces will be deployed," Bishop said at the conclusion of a two-day trip to Baghdad that included meetings with senior Iraqi officials.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday that 200 members of the special forces had not entered Iraq and had been waiting in the United Arab Emirates since mid-September because Baghdad had not offered them formal legal protections.

Bishop told reporters on Sunday the understanding would allow the Australian special forces "to be deployed here to advise and assist the government of Iraq in building up the capacity of the Iraqi security forces."

http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Australian-minister-says-special-forces-will-go-to-Iraq-379214

[Johnyawl]

10. Fuck Iraq, fuck Syria and fuck Turkey...

...We should be airlifting tons of military supplies into Kobane, and into the Kurdish forces in Iraq. They're the only people in the area who seem willing to put their lives on the line and fight. I would even be okay with dropping some advisors into Kobani, especially some Special Forces forward air control that could help coordinate the air strikes.

I think we should start preparing our "allies" for the reality of a Kurdish State.

[bemildred]

11. Turkey will not cooperate in US support for Kurds in Syria, says Erdogan

Turkey would not agree to any US arms transfers to Kurdish fighters who are battling Islamic State (Isis) militants in Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Sunday, as the extremist group fired more mortar rounds near the Syrian-Turkish border.

Turkey views the main Syrian Kurdish group, the PYD, and its military wing which is fighting Isis militants as an extension of the PKK, which has waged a 30-year insurgency in Turkey and is designated a terror group by the US and Nato.

Washington has said recently that it has engaged in intelligence sharing with Kurdish fighters and officials have not ruled out future arms transfers to the Kurdish fighters.

“The PYD is for us, equal to the PKK. It is a terror organisation,” Erdogan told a group of reporters on his return from a visit to Afghanistan. “It would be wrong for the United States with whom we are friends and allies in Nato to talk openly and to expect us to say ‘yes’ to such a support to a terrorist organisation.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/19/turkey-will-not-cooperate-us-support-kurds-erdogan

[4dsc]

12. Turkey is siding with ISIS

ask any Kurd and you'll know why Turkey has decided to stay away from the fighting.

[bemildred]

13. Turkey hates Assad and PKK more than it fears ISIS. nt

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14. U.S. Air Drops Arms To Kurdish Forces Fighting ISIS In Kobani

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Sunday it had airdropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to Kurdish forces defending the Syrian city of Kobani against Islamic State militants.

The airdrops Sunday were the first of their kind and followed weeks of U.S. and coalition airstrikes in and near Kobani, near the Turkish border. The U.S. said earlier Sunday that it had launched 11 airstrikes overnight in the Kobani area.

In a statement Sunday night, U.S. Central Command said U.S. C-130 cargo planes made multiple drops of arms and supplies provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq. It said they were intended to enable continued resistance to Islamic State efforts to take full control of Kobani.

The airdrops are almost certain to anger the Turkish government, which has said it would oppose any U.S. arms transfers to the Kurdish rebels in Syria. Turkey views the main Kurdish group in Syria as an extension of the Turkish Kurd group known as the PKK, which has waged a 30-year insurgency in Turkey and is designated a terror group by the U.S. and by NATO.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/19/us-airdrop-kurds-isis_n_6012250.html

[rollin74]

15. great news!

this was desperately needed by the brave men and women fighting ISIS in Kobani

[The Magistrate]

16. Now That, Sir, Is An Interesting Development

[bemildred]

19. Yes Sir.

Apparently the heroic resistance of the PKK has stirred us to action, despite the worries of our good friend Turkey.

[The Magistrate]

21. I Would Look At It A Little Differently, Sir

It is very much to our advantage that fighting at this location last a while longer and end with a defeat for the I.S.I.L. which is obvious and unmistakable. So I would view this as an obvious case of over-lapping interests.

Kobane is a 'mature' battlefield. Action can be taken without much concern for consequences to non-combatants. Our air force does an excellent job of destroying conventionally deployed ground forces on a battlefield. So this has the potential to become a serious 'blood mill' for I.S.I.L., if they persist in it, with the aircraft providing a very coarse and heavy stone.

It seems likely that even so, I.S.I.L. will persist in it, owing to internal pressures. A great deal of the prestige I.S.I.L. enjoys, which facilitates its victories and its hold on ground it has gained and greatly assists its recruiting, owes to the fact it does operate as a conventional force, that it fields armies wields power just like a state battling in open array. It is not something they are going to leave off doing, even if it might seem wiser to do so as the air assault cuts more keenly. If they do, they become just one more body of skulkers, like all the rest in the world; they lose recruits and money, and people betray them to police and even take personal vengeance on them. And defeat in open battle which by now they are certainly courting in Kobane, subjects them to exactly the same consequences....

[bemildred]

22. Yes Sir.

Such opportunities do not come along every day.

[GGJohn]

17. The hell with what Turkey thinks.

They've stood by and allowed ISIL to run amok in Kobani while the Kurds are valiantly fighting those terrorists.

I hope we continue to re-supply the Kurds and continue with the air strikes.

[Kaleva]

18. Very good news.

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23. Iraqi Kurds reveal details of Kobani arms drops

The director of the intelligence agency of the Kurdish regional government in Iraq's north has said that 24 tons of arms and ammunition and 10 tons of medical supplies have been delivered to anti-ISIL fighters in the Syrian town of Kobani.

Lahur Jangi Talabani used social media to detail the airdrops which were made to fighters defending the Syrian border town against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant forces.

"After 10 days of relentless efforts, 24 tons of arms and ammunitions and 10 tons of medical aid have been delivered to People's Protection Units in Kobani at 2:35am by three C-130 cargo jets from the U.S. Air Force," said Talabani in a social media post Monday.

"As part of the Kurdistan Region's continuous efforts to support Western Kurdistan in general and Kobani in particular, weapons and military aid were delivered to Kobani today from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq by American cargo jets," the Kurdish regional government confirmed in a statement.

http://www.aa.com.tr/en/rss/407362--iraqi-kurds-reveal-details-of-kobani-arms-drops

[greatlaurel]

20. Erdogan is not to be trusted. He is a really strange guy.

The Obama administration seems to be handling this as well as they possibly can with the limitations of working with Erdogan as the head of Turkey. Erdogan is playing with fire by supporting ISIS and is very likely to get a lot more good people killed. Erdogan hates the Kurds way more than he is concerned about fighting the genocidal maniacs he helped spawn in ISIS.

The Kurds will keep them at bay, if given a little support. The news that the Kurds had been airdropped supplies was very good news indeed.

What a mess Bush and Cheney managed to make in the Middle East.

[daleo]

24. God's will and the USAF saved the day

"I thought that if they must be martyred, then that would be God's will," Jemmo said as he peered southward from Turkish territory toward the Syrian city of Kobani, plumes of smoke rising skyward and the rumble of an unseen fighter jet cutting through the thick overcast. "

Hard to say whose side God or the USAF will be on in a year, though. Both can be pretty fickle.

[bemildred]

25. Chaos looms before us.

I always like to see violent, aggressive people get theirs. Something bullies should keep in mind.

I think we will not have peace on the planet until all empires die.

[potone]

26. I am very glad that we are supporting the Kurds.

As someone else stated on this thread, they are the only ones who are willing to take on this maniacal group of murdering thugs. I also agree with the criticism of Erdogan. He IS playing with fire. I know Turks who, despite their disapproval of him for many things, did think that he was going to make peace with the PKK and finally end that conflict in Turkey. Their hopes are now dashed. Turkey gains nothing by tacitly supporting the so-called Islamic State; if they were to prevail, they would have their sights set on Turkey, too.